Second Time Around
by beaglelover719
Summary: JJ's life gets turned upside down due to taking the easy way out three years prior. Now the truth is out and it's consequences are far reaching. But will things turn out better the Second Time Around? JJ/Hotch AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – My beta absolutely hates this (she's a Will fan) but I'm already eight chapters in so I figure what the heck. Anyway, I got this idea from Flames101's awesome fic One Night and it wouldn't leave me alone. It's obviously AU and you have to suspend reality a little but sometimes people really do do dumb things.**

Valentine's Day 2013

JJ shivered as she made her way in from the parking lot to the office. Quantico, Virginia left a lot to be desired in February. She thought of the plans that she and Will had made months ago to take a few days off and fly down to Florida for a quick winter break. That could officially be shelved, she thought bitterly. She let out a heavy sigh and entered the building. Today was going to be a long day. Her only hope was they wouldn't catch a case.

She bit back another sigh as she stepped off the elevator; Pen had obviously been at work with the decorations which meant Hotch would undoubtedly have to remind her, yet again, they were a law enforcement agency, not an elementary school. It didn't matter how nicely he delivered the message, she'd be upset and JJ would have to listen to her blow off steam. As she looked at the nauseating hearts and cupids everywhere she couldn't help but agree with Hotch on this one.

She smiled as he was the first person that caught her eye this morning. "I'm not telling her this time. Last time she called me Agent Scrooge for a week. It's someone else's turn."

"Hey, you're the boss." She pointed out.

"Not happening." He reiterated. "Let HR take a whack at her."

"You're not afraid of her are you?"

"Do I look stupid?" He asked her. "Of course I am."

Just then their very own BAU cupid came barreling down the hall. "We have a case, briefing in fifteen." She breezed by them in pursuit of Rossi, Reid, Morgan and Blake.

"Sometimes I wonder if Pen knows you're the boss." She remarked as she watched the blonde disappear. "I can shoot her an org chart if it helps." She meant to be funny but when she turned she noticed Hotch scrutinizing her.

"Is everything okay, JJ?"

His intuition startled her. The damn man didn't miss a thing. "I, ah, need to get coffee before the briefing." She told him, ignoring his question.

He regarded her for a long minute then decided to allow her the space she needed. "Alright, I'll see you in there." He didn't immediately walk away. "You know you can talk to me about anything?"

JJ swallowed the lump that formed in her throat; unable to speak she nodded her head.

He reached out and placed a hand on her arm. "I'm serious, you know."

"I know." She said in a small voice. "I, I'm going to need to take you up on that soon."

"My door is always open." Leaving it at that, he turned and walked back to his office leaving JJ shaken by the encounter.

She knew within minutes that the case would require travel. Travel meant she'd be required to call Will. Considering that the majority of their conversations lately were either shouting matches or accusations she wasn't looking forward to the call.

"Okay, that's everything, wheels up in thirty." Hotch announced, standing.

"Um, actually, I have an announcement if that's okay?" She looked to Hotch for approval.

Penelope assumed it was good news. "Oh my gawd! You're having another baby!"

Her eyes flew to Garcia's. "Wh…at?" JJ barely managed to strangle out.

"I knew it! Oh, I hope this one is a little girl. I know you said you wanted to wait but I just knew that you'd be…"

"GARCIA!" Hotch's voice broke into her rambling. "How about you let JJ finish speaking?"

The reprimand chastised her slightly. "Yes, sir. Sorry, JJ." She smiled widely, "Pray continue."

JJ took a deep breath. "Will and I…" She closed her eyes as Garcia started to clap prematurely. "We're getting a divorce, Pen." She bit out.

Garcia froze mid-clap and looked around the room in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I'm sorry to hear that, JJ." Hotch spoke, effectively silencing Garcia.

Not wanting to expound further, JJ shrugged. "It's for the best." She gave a tight smile. "I need to go call Will and let him know we caught a case and I'll be traveling. Excuse me." She turned and fled the room, knowing they would be dissecting her news the minute the door closed.

"I don't understand." Garcia gaped, still unable to comprehend the news that was just delivered. She thought JJ and Will were all sunshine and rainbows.

"It's not our place to question or understand." Hotch responded, firmly. "If JJ wants to discuss it that is her decision but you are not to probe or harass her in any way."

"I would never." The raised brow, smirk, smile and snort that came from Morgan, Rossi, Blake and Reid had her gasping out. "I wouldn't. Oh my poor, Buttercup."

"I mean it, Penelope. We are going to support JJ anyway she needs, we're not going to interfere or prod into her privacy." He glanced at his watch. "We're wasting time, folks."

Rossi, Reid and Blake were quick to follow him out the door but Morgan hung back. "Pen, I know that you love JJ and you mean well, but you need to watch your step here."

Penelope gave him a full pout. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you got a direct order from Hotch to give JJ a wide berth."

"But…"

"But nothing, Baby Girl, he gives you a lot of latitude on a lot of things…"

"Like?" She scoffed.

"One example, you've got decorations up all over the room again."

"It's festive, it's a holiday."

"It's a distraction. Your personal space, fine," He looked over at her. "Don't be giving me the lip." He sighed. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, Pen. I'm trying to give you a warning. Hotch is very lenient with you on a lot of stuff," He shook his head at the look she was giving him; "I am not going to give you a list. Just, JJ's his girl, that's all I'm saying. You know that. They have a special connection. I don't know if it's the kid angle or what, but they click…"

"I click with JJ, too." She grumbled.

"No one is denying that you are a good friend to JJ but you tend to leap before you look."

"I do…"

He interrupted before she could get the 'not' out. "The entire room knew that JJ's announcement was not going to be a happy one and you broke in and started yammering about another baby."

"You knew it wasn't happy news?" Morgan just nodded. "Jinkies."

Derek went and draped his arm across her shoulders. "It'll be alright. Just try to stay off Hotch's radar."

"Should I take the decorations down?"

"Couldn't hurt."

"Need a lift?" Hotch paused by JJ's desk, ready bag slung over his shoulder.

"What?" JJ blinked and ordered herself to focus. The call with Will had gone about as well as she expected. She was currently indulging in a fantasy where he never existed and she never made such a horrible mistake.

"Do you need to take some time? We can work this one without you." Hotch told her.

She shook her head. "No. My mom is coming down to pick up Henry from the sitter. She'll take him home with her. I'll have to figure something out going forward." She stood and bent to grab her back but Hotch had already picked it up for her.

"May I ask why Will cannot take care of Henry?" He wouldn't impose so much to ask her why her marriage was ending but he would inquire as to why her husband couldn't look after their son.

"Will has decided to accept a Sheriff's position in his home parish."

Hotch froze. "He's moving to Louisiana?" Hotch asked in shock as his head quickly processed what that might mean.

She blew out a breath as they stepped on the elevator. "Yes. Henry is going to stay with me." She jerked as Hotch hit the emergency stop.

She'd just told him that Will was leaving Henry too. It didn't seem possible. There was only one way that Will would sever ties with them. "JJ, three years ago you told me there was no chance that Henry was my son." He believed her, he never challenged her assertion, even when he held the infant and was stunned to see a resemblance to his brother Sean. JJ would never be so duplicitous as to lie to him about something so huge.

"Three years ago you were desperate to make things work with your wife. We'd had a brief fling." Her eyes pleaded with his for understanding.

"Of which Henry is the result?" The question hung on the air. He'd asked it before but she steadfastly denied the possibility and he didn't question it. "That is the conversation you wanted to have with me later."

Her face crumbled. "Yes. Oh God, Aaron, I'm so sorry, I truly believed he was Will's son." She answered hoarsely, tears coursing down her cheeks.

The sight of her in pain tore at him but it didn't manage to override the all-consuming anger he felt knowing that he missed three years with a son he scarcely knew. "How long have you known?" He choked out.

"I found out right after Thanksgiving." It had been a routine test that raised a flag and started a war.

"And Will knows?"

"Do you honestly think he would willingly leave Henry if he didn't?" Will had been devastated by the findings. Not only was the son he so dearly loved not truly his but he belonged to a man that he _knew_ that his wife was secretly in love with.

"Why the hell didn't you let me know?" When she only shrugged he reached out for her arm causing her to wince. "What the hell?" He held on to her hand as he pushed the sweater she was wearing back, exposing an ugly bruise. "I'll kill him."

"It was an accident!" Her hand grasped his. "Hotch!" She yelled to get his attention as he continued to stare at the bruise. "It was an accident."

"You have a visible hand print on your arm." He bit out.

"It pales in comparison to all the pain that I've caused." She pushed the sweater back down.

"I know that you didn't knowingly cause this." As much as it pained him, he knew she wouldn't deliberately do this.

"I didn't, I promise you, Aaron, I didn't. The doctor gave me a conception date that was two weeks later than the last date we were together. I honestly thought that you and Haley would reconcile and I didn't want to be the one that stood in your way." And any glimpses of the man before her that she saw in her son she'd written off as her wishful thinking.

The ringing of the phone in the elevator took them by surprise. JJ listened in stunned silence as Hotch let loose of some of his anger on the unfortunate maintenance team. He surprised her further when he called Section Chief Strauss on the elevator phone and requested emergency vacation time for a family matter.

"Ma'am, I wouldn't be requesting personal leave if it weren't absolutely necessary. Agent Morgan is more than capable of handling the team in this instance. Yes ma'am, he's more than capable of the Unit Chief position all around. If you feel that is in the best interest of the BAU then I will support that decision." Fucking battleax, he growled as he ended the call and released the button to start the elevator.

"You're going to need to call your mother and tell her not to worry about traveling down to Virginia." He ordered her.

JJ winced at his tone. "Why?"

"Because she won't be needed." The doors opened and they were subjected to quite a few stares. No one was brave enough to make a comment though when they encountered the angry countenance of the man exiting. "Let's go. Where is your car parked?"

"Why are we taking my car?"

"Because I don't have a car seat in mine." He called the team when they got to the car. Although he officially put Morgan in charge he placed his phone call to Dave.

"Where the hell are you? We're ready to take off." The man asked as soon as he answered his phone.

"JJ and I will not be joining the team on this case." Hotch responded in a clipped voice.

In typical Rossi fashion he demanded to know why not.

"It's complicated, Dave."

There was a moment of silence then, "JJ's alright though?"

"JJ is fine." He shot a look at the woman who was driving woodenly back to her home. "It's just," he scrubbed a hand over his face. "I can't get into it now."

"Are you available for a consult if needed?" He questioned, trying to drag anything out of their stoic leader.

"I don't know." Hotch barked, feeling guilty when JJ jumped. "Sorry." The apology had been directed at JJ. "Listen Dave, I'm going to need to be out of pocket for a few days, I've got some things to put in order."

Having known the man for so many years Dave knew that Aaron Hotchner would not arbitrarily bail on his duty if it not for the upmost importance. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you." He disconnected the call and stared over at JJ. He'd known that something hadn't been right when he saw her this morning. He'd always been able to read her emotions. "JJ?" He said softly, "I need to call my lawyer."

She glanced over at him in confusion.

"I need to have him start petitioning the court to change the name of the birth father on Henry's birth certificate and I need to file for joint custody." He continued to speak in a soft voice. "I want to know my son, JJ, and I want him to know me." The sob that was ripped out of her broke his heart. "I'm not doing this to hurt you. Right now Will is listed as his parent, he could fight for custody…"

She shook her head. "He's not going to. He's leaving…"

"JJ, he's hurt, his first reaction is to just leave. He loves Henry, he's going to decide that it doesn't matter that Henry is not his biological son and he's going to fight for him." Because that is exactly what he would do if the situation were reversed.

"He said he couldn't stand the mere sight of him." And he said worse, much worse to JJ.

"Pull over."

Not questioning him she did as directed.

"What did he say to you?"

Damn the man and his perception. She shook her head. "It doesn't matter." They had hurt but she understood that Will only lashed out at her due to his own grief.

He let out a stream of expletives that she had never heard from him and stepped out of the car. She sat uncertain of what to do as he paced angrily. She sat in angry recrimination as she wished for the thousandth time that she'd have handled the situation differently. That she would have questioned the possibility that Henry could have been Hotch's but she'd been so hurt by what she thought was his dismissal that she'd eagerly accepted the doctor's assessment. She was startled as he knocked on the window. She quickly unlocked the door.

"Why don't I drive?"

"Where?" She asked, exasperated as she slid over the console.

"My lawyer's." He bit out. "Call your mother."

"Aaron."

"Jennifer." He adjusted the seat and the mirrors but still didn't start the car. Finally he turned to her. "I'm not sure why you were so convinced that I wanted to reconcile with Haley, I can't undo that misconception but I can tell you it damn near killed me when I found out that you were pregnant and it wasn't my child. I hope you're right and Will is just going to slink off with his tail tucked between his legs, but if he says anything about Henry or you within my hearing I will end him."

"He's hurting, Aaron."

"He's hurting? I missed three years of my child's life because you believed what the doctor told you. More likely you wanted to believe it because it made life easier." He braced for her fury when she narrowed her eyes. "I'm not trying to fight with you. But I'll be damned if he decides, whether because he does really love Henry, which he damn well should, or because he wants to be a prick, that he's going to fight for him. I want a court order, today, for a blood test to prove that I'm his father. I want my name on the birth certificate. No one is going to keep me from my son any longer. Not even you."

**Thanks for reading….**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer – Not Mine**

**A/N – Mistakes are all mine. Beta is on strike over story content. I tried to explain to her that I think Will's okay but I really like the idea of a Hotch and JJ world… **

The visit to Hotch's lawyer had gone about as well has he'd figured. The only thing he hadn't considered which Bill, his lawyer, strongly encouraged was talking to Will. Hotch was too keyed up emotionally to believe that Will would just willing walk away from Henry without a fight but after a good hour and a half of listening to logic convinced him that maybe talking would be the right answer.

It took well over another hour to convince JJ that he needed to have this conversation without her present. She was currently ensconced in his small home with Henry.

Henry. Hotch smiled, the boy had been so excited when they picked him up. He was so unlike Jack, his careful, thoughtful, little man. Henry was all tough and tumble, devil may care. The two would be good for one another. Henry would bring a little mischief out of Jack and Jack would instill a little order in Henry. He couldn't wait to see them interact.

He pulled in to JJ's driveway behind Will's truck. He wasn't ambushing the man, exactly, but he knew that this wouldn't be an easy discussion. He walked to the front door and noticed that Will was standing there waiting for him. "Thank you for agreeing to see me."

"I didn't want to." His eyes were bleak and Hotch felt a sudden twinge of sympathy for the man. "I suppose JJ told you."

Hotch nodded. "She did."

"You didn't suspect?" He himself had long suspected that JJ harbored feelings for her leader but he never expected that he would one day have to deal with the realization that the son he so loved wasn't actually his but the son of the very man he feared had the power to break up his family.

Hotch sighed heavily and answered honestly. "I had no reason to."

Will studied him intently, finally, seeing no reason not to believe Hotch's sincerity he opened the door wide and invited him in. "I imagine that she also told you that I was going back to New Orleans so I'm not sure what it is you think we need to discuss. I'll be gone soon and you and JJ can have a happy little family with Henry." He stated resentfully.

"I met with my lawyer this afternoon."

Will shook his head a little surprised at how quickly Hotch acted. "You don't believe in wasting any time."

"No, I don't." He exhaled sharply through his nose. "I am going to petition the courts to have DNA tests run on Henry and myself to prove that I am his father. I will also be petitioning for joint custody of Henry." He continued when Will looked at him in surprise but still hadn't spoken. "I have a dangerous job, I need to make sure that legally Henry is recognized as my son so should anything happen to me he would have the same benefits afforded him as Jack would."

"That's understandable." Will replied then swallowed a lump in his throat as he told the other man. "I'm not going to fight the request."

Hotch continued cautiously. "My lawyer suggested that I speak with you. If you truly have no objection…"

He could hold it in no longer. "Oh, believe me, I object, but there's not a whole lot I can do about it is there?" He strode to the fireplace and grabbed a sheet of paper. "Henry is not my son." He thrust the paper at Hotch blindly. "Unless JJ had some other man that she was stringing on at the time I think it's reasonably safe to assume he's yours."

A muscle on the side of Hotch's face ticked. He looked at the paper in front of him. DNA results that showed Will LaMontange was not the father of Henry. "I'll allow that this situation leaves a lot to be desired, I will even allow that you're getting a raw deal, but I will not allow you to speak in a disparaging manor about JJ."

"She lied to you for three years about your son and you still defend her." He shook his head. "You two deserve each other." When Hotch failed to respond Will looked at him with misery etched clearly in his eyes. "You know what the bitch of this all is? I suspected it. The day Henry was born I had stepped out of the room for a minute, when I came back in the team was surrounding her. She had this radiant glow about her, there was so much love evident in her face it humbled me." He paused, choked up at the memory. "I thought she was looking at Henry, but she was staring at you." And that hadn't been the only time he caught her looking at Hotch with the same naked longing. "I uprooted my life for a woman and a son that were never mine to being with." He choked out.

Hotch swallowed hard and asked. "How can you just walk away from them?"

"How can I not?" Will looked about the room. "Everything I see is a lie." He scrubbed his hand over his face. "I can't look at her and not see her tangled around you."

"It's still a fresh wound; don't do something that you can't undo." Coming here and advising Will to fight for JJ and Henry had not been his intent but he knew that both of them would be hurt by Will's leaving.

Will ignored his comments. "I imagine your lawyer gave you something for me to sign relinquishing my parental rights?"

"He did." Hotch tried again. "Nothing has happened between JJ and me since she chose you."

"That's just it. You still don't get it, do you? She didn't choose me." He said sadly. "I was the consolation prize. When she found out she was pregnant with Henry she thought you were going to reconcile with Haley and the dipshit doctor told her what he thought the conception date was and she never looked back. Up to that point we just had a flirtation, hell she'd only slept with me to help get over the pain of losing you. I knew that. Not that it was you specifically. I didn't realize that until later, but by then I was so enamored it didn't matter. I didn't question that Henry was mine because I wanted her so badly. You didn't question it because she told you it wasn't a possibility. But we all know that I would have been out of the picture a long time ago had anyone of us questioned it." He held out his hand in a silent request for the papers he knew Hotch carried.

Will recoiled as Hotch laid the papers in his hand. "I know that she loved me the best she could, but I also know that she has always yearned for you. Now that everything is out in the open I have to leave. I can't stand to watch losing both her and my son to you." His hand trembled reached for a pen.

Hotch watched as he signed his name on the bottom of the document. His voice was tight with emotion. "Why are you so sure that you would lose them? Jesus, Will, how can you just give them up without a fight?"

"You're a good man, Hotch. A decent man. I really want to hate you but I know that we're all just victims of our own stupidity. I love Henry. I do. That's why I'm signing this. I know that you're a good parent. I've seen you with Jack. The best thing I can do for Henry is step back and allow him to become part of your family."

"He can do that and still have you. How do you think he's going to respond to losing you?"

Will pulled another piece of paper from the mantel. This was a white envelope with the name 'Henry' written in bold letters across it. "I think initially it will be hard, but I think in the long run it's for the best." He smiled at Hotch. "I know that you think I'm being rash, but keep in mind you've only just learned of this today. I've been struggling with it for weeks. By coming here you just reinforced my decision." He extended his hand. "Promise me that you'll take care of them."

"I think you're making a huge mistake." Hotch expressed.

"I'll be out of the house by tomorrow. I would like to say goodbye to them before I leave." He knew that JJ was currently at Hotch's house with Henry.

The idea of the pair coming here didn't set well with Hotch. "Why don't you come by the house?"

Will raised a brow at the mixed signals he was receiving. "I only want to say goodbye. I promise you, I wouldn't do anything to hurt them."

He recalled the bruise on JJ's arm. "Then why does JJ have a hand print on her arm from where you grabbed her?"

Will flinched. "I hurt her?"

The pure shock in Will's eyes went a long way to diffuse the anger he felt upon the discovery of the bruise. Hotch shook his head. "I'm sorry. She said it was nothing. I should have respected that and not said anything."

"I guess I should be glad that I'm still breathing." Will commented to the larger man.

"It was a close thing." He agreed. "But I still think conducting your goodbye in a neutral environment would make it easier for all parties." He suggested.

The ride back to his house was spent cataloging what needed to happen next. The list was becoming increasingly large. He'd dropped the document that Will signed off at his lawyer's office as well as a copy of the test that Will himself had done. It occurred to him that he should have requested that they have a witness to the paperwork that was signed but it was too late for that and it truly didn't seem like Will was going to protest anything.

He had a son. He had two sons. He had to break the news to Jack. It worried him that he couldn't predict how he would react. This was a big deal. The team would have to be told and he would possibly face sanctions or even reassignment. He sighed heavily. It might not be a bad thing to consider the idea of another job. Jesus, he thought to himself, wouldn't Haley love that? Jessica. Crap, she would need to be told too, probably right after Jack. He didn't imagine that would go very well. The ringing of his phone snapped him out of his reverie. "Hotchner."

"Hey stranger."

Beth. Shit. He had completely forgotten her. He thought about the brunette that he'd been seeing these last several months and wondered how she'd take the news that he had another son. Well, he thought, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. "Beth. Hi."

"I was being to think you'd forgotten about me." She waited for a moment and when he didn't comment she said. "Is this a bad time?"

"Uh, actually it is. Can I call you back?"

"Oh, sure." The disappointment was evident in her voice. "I, uh, just wanted to call, let you know that I missed you."

Not sure how to reply he felt guilty by the buzz alerting him that he had another call. "Beth, I'm really sorry, I have another call I have to take. I'll call you later, okay?" He didn't give her an opportunity to say anything else as he disconnected. He'd have to make up for that oversight later. "Hotchner."

"Where the hell are you?" JJ hissed. "Am I supposed to just sit here all day while you decide my life for me?"

"It hasn't even been two hours, JJ." He responded calmly. "I'm almost home."

"Yeah, well I really don't appreciate you riding roughshod over me and just dropping me off and taking off and expecting me to stay put." She griped.

"You know if you really wanted to leave you could have called a cab?" He reasoned.

"And go where?" She cried. That was part of her whole dilemma. She couldn't return home. She couldn't go to her friends. She was at the only place she could go.

"You realize that this is going to come out?" Hotch told her softly as he parked the car in the driveway. He sat in the driver's seat and thought back to how everything seemed so perfectly normal only that morning.

"I know." For the last two hours she thought of nothing else. Emily and Pen would be mad that she hadn't confided in them. She wasn't sure she would be able to stand all the stares that she would be the recipient of when it was discovered that Henry was actually Hotch's son.

"It's going to be okay, JJ." He announced, coming in the door, his eyes immediately searching out Henry.

"I'm not sure that I share your optimism." However she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face as he bent to pick Henry up.

"Hey buddy. Are you having fun?" He smiled as the child eagerly accepted his embrace. He turned to JJ. "Will is coming over in a bit to say goodbye." He watched the emotion that crossed her face. "I, uh, tried to talk him out of it. Leaving." He clarified.

His admission surprised her. "He wants to believe that I didn't know, but he's not sure, he thinks I cuckolded him." JJ shared with him sadly.

Hotch watched as she moved nervously around the room. "He signed the papers." It hadn't been necessary but it would definitely make things easier as he moved forward to claim Henry as his son.

JJ couldn't stop the tears that sprang to her eyes. "Just like that."

"No, I don't think it was just like that." Hotch defended. "He is convinced that what he's doing is for the best." He moved closer to her. "It's not an easy situation, JJ. Not for any of us. He's convinced that he's doing the best thing for you and Henry."

"By leaving him." She stated bitterly.

"He is pretty convinced that he wouldn't have even been in the picture if we would have known sooner." He stared at her for a long moment lost in what could have beens.

JJ shrugged. "That's kind of irrelevant now isn't it? I can't undo what happened."

"No," He agreed, "you can't. You can fight for Will you know. Tell him you love him and want him to stay."

"No, I can't do that." JJ stated. "Once he found out that Henry wasn't his it was over. Henry's been the thread holding us together for a long time. Without that we really just fell apart." She reluctantly admitted.

The revelation stunned Hotch. "I'm sorry."

JJ looked over at him sadly. "Me too."

**Thanks for reading! Thank you for all the reviews and favorites/follows. As always I really appreciate the interest and support. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – I really meant to have this up last Friday but time just got away from me. Sorry! Mistakes still belong to me… **

"I don't understand." Jack Hotchner looked up at his dad. "Henry already has a daddy." He wore a mutinous expression on his face as he looked from the younger boy that he'd just shared his toys with to his father. "You're my daddy."

Hotch drew a large breath. "Yes, I am, but I'm Henry's daddy too."

The little boy in question raised his big eyes towards them at the mention of his name. "Hotch. Daddy."

Jack swung around and yelled at the little boy. "He is not your daddy!" He argued.

"Jack." Hotch's voice carried a warning that Jack chose to ignore.

"No. No. No. You are not his daddy. No!"

"Enough." Hotch knelt in front of his son. "I'm sorry, Jack, but I am Henry's dad too and you're going to have to get used to it. Henry is going to be spending time with us." He paused curiously and looked towards JJ as his son's eyes filled and overflowed. "Buddy, I thought you liked Henry?"

"I liked him better when he didn't stay here and you weren't his daddy." Jack replied, miserably.

"Jack, you know that your dad still loves you and nothing will ever change that, right?" JJ asked.

"Are you going to be my new mom?" Jack asked.

JJ's eyes widened, surprised by the question. "No…"

"How come I have to share my dad and Henry doesn't have to share his mom? That's not fair!" Jack exploded.

JJ quickly knelt down in front of him. "Jack?" She gently brushed a tear from his cheek as he looked up at her in anguish. "I'm sorry that this is upsetting you. Your dad thought you would be happy that you had a brother."

"How come he had to pick Henry?" The little boy cried as he threw himself into JJ's arms.

"Oh honey, I'm sorry this is so confusing." JJ continued to console him as Henry, finally noticing that his friend was in conflict, sauntered over to them.

"Jack sad?" He questioned softly.

The sound of the littler boy's voice had Jack opening his eyes. "Get!" He yelled just as Henry gently copied his mother's actions and patted Jack on his back. None of them were prepared for Jack's action of reaching out and pushing Henry as strongly as his little five year old body would allow.

Fortunately for Jack the only result was for Henry to fall on his bottom. But the action startled him and caused him to cry.

"Jack!" Hotch reprimanded one son as he scooped up the other. "Hey, little man."

"I'm your little man!" Jack demanded as he stomped his foot to get his father's attention.

"You are in time out is what you are young man. I will not tolerate behavior like that and you will apologize to Henry immediately."

Both JJ and Jack were taken back at the tone of his voice.

"I'm sure he didn't mean…"

"Do not make excuses for him, JJ." Hotch snapped as he continued to stare at his oldest son as his youngest had already calmed and was now nestled securely against his shoulder.

Jack realizing that what he did was wrong, as well as understanding that he'd pushed his father too far, looked up at him and mumbled. "I'm sorry, daddy."

"Don't apologize to me, Jack. Apologize to Henry."

"Sorry Henry." The words were barely audible.

JJ's heart broke at the sad, bewildered expression on Jack's face. She looked up at Hotch angrily. "He's upset. You can see this is hard on him."

Hotch let out a sigh as he looked from the despondent boy to the angry woman. His tone much calmer than it had been previously he told her, "I know he's upset, JJ but he needs to understand that Henry is going to be a part of our lives. The sooner he accepts that the better off he'll be." He looked at his son. "And we don't push in this family. Ever. Henry could have been hurt. He could have fallen and hit his head. That behavior is unacceptable." He stopped as he saw Jack's lip quiver. He knelt with Henry still in place. "Come here, Jack."

The little boy flew into his open arm.

"Just because I'm Henry's dad doesn't mean that I'm going to stop being yours, you know that, right?" He stopped and waited for Jack to nod. "There are going to be a few changes around here but they are going to be good things." He placed a kiss on his son's temple. "I promise you."

"Okay, daddy."

JJ watched the scene unfold and couldn't help but feel guilty. It had been three days since Hotch learned that Henry was his son. He handled the news far more graciously than she believed possible. Not once had he lashed out at her. In fact his only request of her was access to Henry. "Why don't I go ahead and go now?" She said softly now that the situation had been defused.

"You don't have to." His eyes met hers warmly.

"I think you deserve some alone time with your boys."

He smiled at the phrase. The told her happily. "I called Sean last night. He's going to come down this weekend to meet Henry." He looked over at her. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded, not really surprised that he was spreading the news. She shared some of her own. "Uh, my mom is planning on driving down on Friday. She'd like to meet you too." She told JJ she wanted to meet her grandson's real father. JJ could only imagine the questions that her mom would ask Hotch. She'd already asked her if she was still sleeping with Hotch.

"Oh." He shook his head surprised that he hadn't considered her family. "That would probably be a good idea."

"How did Jessica take the news?" She bit her lip. She knew that Hotch told her the previous evening, wanting to make sure she knew before breaking the news to Jack.

"She was understanding." He chuckled when JJ raised a brow. "Fine. She accused me of being a cheating scumbag." He admitted. "Do you think you could take one of these guys?" He asked as he struggled to carry both of the exhausted, dead-weight, boys.

She grinned. "Don't you think you should get used to it?"

"Thanks."

She chuckled and moved to relieve him of his lighter load. "Where do you want him?" Henry was going to spend some time alone with Jack and Hotch to get used to them. He had been clingy the last few days since Will left. He was used to his parent's shifts but he seemed to understand something was different this time.

Hotch looked around. "How about my bed? He'll probably sleep better there than on the couch." He turned towards the stairs. "I need to do some shopping, he needs his own bed." They climbed the stairs in silence; he pointed JJ to his room while he went and deposited Jack in his own.

JJ had barely laid him on the bed and smoothed the hair out of his eyes before she turned to discover Hotch watching them from the doorway. "He's usually pretty vocal when he wakes." But just in case she'd buffered him with pillows on either side.

"To be honest I think I want to just stay and watch him." He glanced over at the chair in the corner.

"Aaron." The sound of his name on her lips had him turning to her. "You did make sure that Jessica knows we didn't have an affair? I wouldn't want her to think…"

"Hey." He was suddenly directly in front of her. "She can do the math JJ. Haley is the one that asked for the separation and the divorce. Jessica knows that."

"But maybe now she thinks there was a good reason for it." She didn't want to lose anyone's good opinion.

Hotch knew that she was feeling guilty and tried to alleviate some of her anxiety. "She was surprised, JJ. But she's fair."

"Okay." She trusted his assessment.

"I have an appointment with Strauss tomorrow." He waited as her eyes finally looked up to his. "I have to disclose the fact that Henry is mine and that he was conceived during a period when you worked under the group as a liaison."

"Are we going to face disciplinary actions?" She wasn't sure how situations like this were handled.

"No." He assured her. "You didn't report directly to me. He watched as she let out a pent up breath. "The team will be back tomorrow. I thought we could tell them together."

"They're going to have so many questions." She worried about their reactions.

"We don't have to answer anything you don't want to." He reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. "In fact, we can just make a statement and leave it at that."

She snorted thinking of the team. "Right because that will happen." She could only imagine what they would think let alone say.

"You're okay, right?" He asked as he studied her closely.

She blinked up at him. "I'm fine."

"I know this hasn't been easy for you, JJ." He told her, "I'm just glad that we know now and you're letting me get to know Henry." He shook his head in wonder. "I'm excited that I have another child. I really didn't think I'd have the opportunity again." He swallowed, emotionally. "Thank you."

"To be fair, you did help." She replied cheekily then blushed furiously. "I can't believe I said that."

"We'll blame it on the stress of the situation." He laughed, glossing over her embarrassment.

"I'm worried about what everyone is going to say." She admitted. "My mind has come up with all kind of scenarios of how they are going to react. Most of them more ridiculous than the one before it." She bit her lip.

"JJ, they're all going to have an opinion and you know that they're going to share it whether or not we want to hear it." He stared at her for a moment before adding. "They're also going to question if this has been an ongoing thing."

She had the exact same thought. She lifted a slim shoulder with feigned indifference. "They're going to believe what they want to believe. Regardless of whatever we say."

"They're going to take a few potshots at us but at the end of the day you know that they'll have our backs, they always do."

"Right." She nodded knowing that he was right. Then she couldn't help but ask the question that had plagued her all day long. "What did Beth say?" She frowned as he avoided her eyes.

"I, uh, I haven't exactly told her yet." He stayed focused on Henry. "I thought maybe this is something I should do face to face rather than over the phone." He glanced at her quickly then looked away nervously. "I have to admit I'm not sure how she'll react."

"I'm sorry." She whispered softly. Relationships were fragile things she knew firsthand how news like this could destroy them.

That brought his eyes to hers. "There is nothing to be sorry about, JJ. I don't know what's going to happen with Beth, she'll either understand or she won't." He looked back at the small figure on his bed. "I can't worry about that now. You have to know my first concern is going to be Henry and Jack. My focus is going to be making sure they are handling this transition well."

"You know better than most that people seldom react the way you think they're going to." He was certainly surprising her. For his sake he hoped Beth took the news well.

**Thanks for reading! As always, thanks for the reviews and the favorites/follows. I really appreciate them. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Second Time Around Chapter Four**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – Still beta-less so I own all the mistakes. **

JJ spent the day cleaning. It wasn't her favorite activity, but it helped to clear her head. It also helped kill time. She knew that Hotch had an appointment with Strauss and regardless of his assurance that everything was going to be fine she had a nagging suspicion that it wasn't. When the phone finally rang she grabbed it without checking the caller id.

"Hotch?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Peaches, it's only me." Garcia responded. "Why have you been dodging my calls all week?" She demanded to know.

"Oh, hey, Pen."

"Don't you, oh hey Pen, me." Garcia snapped. "Something is going on with you. I want to know what."

"I told you." JJ replied, only to have Pen interrupt her.

"You barely skimmed the surface, Peaches. Seemingly out of the blue you announce that you and Will are divorcing. Then Hotch is taking personal leave and both of you are staying back from the case. We arrive back here this afternoon to find Hotch ensconced with Strauss in her office. He came out for barely a minute, requested that Morgan join them, and now they are having a pow-wow of epic proportions."

JJ had begun to pace as Garcia spoke. "Morgan was called in?" She could only imagine what the implications of that meant. She had to get down there; she never should have let him talk to Strauss alone.

"What is going on JJ?" Garcia demanded.

Heart racing, JJ moved through the house, quickly snatching up her sleeping son and grabbing her purse. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." She told Pen, slightly out of breath in her hurry.

"JJ?" Garcia's voice was pleading for her to talk to her.

"I can't get into it over the phone, Pen." She settled a still groggy Henry into his car seat then quickly got into the driver's seat and started her car. "Do not let Hotch leave before I get there." She ordered.

She made it to Quantico in record time. Penelope was pacing by the elevator when she reached the floor that the BAU was housed on. She breezed by Penelope and was entering the bullpen when Hotch and Morgan were exiting Strauss' office. Both men looked decidedly somber.

"Why don't you gather the team and we'll let them know what's going on. We'll meet in the war room in five minutes." Hotch said to Morgan, he barely paused as he strode into his office and shut the door.

Penelope watched in stunned silence as JJ made a beeline to Hotch's office.

"What in the world is going on, Derek?" She asked as Morgan came to stand by her. They both watched as JJ knocked sharply on his door before entering Hotch's office without waiting for his response. Penelope's mouth dropped as she watched Hotch reach out to take Henry from JJ's arms, hugging the boy affectionately.

"What's going on?" JJ demanded, unknowingly echoing Garcia's question. She could tell that whatever it was she wasn't going to like it.

"I was just getting ready to call you." He looked a little shell shocked as he gestured to the cell phone he still held in his hand. When he stepped towards her and led her to the chair her stomach dropped.

"Just tell me." Her eyes never left Hotch's as she sunk into the chair.

"I've been removed of the Unit Chief position pending investigation." Hotch told her emotionlessly.

"What! Why?" JJ knew that it was bad she just never expected it to be this bad.

"It's standard procedure JJ." He replied coolly.

"You knew this was going to happen." She accused. She realized that now. He'd know that this was going to happen and he did it anyway.

He gave a terse nod. "I knew that it was a possibility."

"That's not fair… what happened… I'll talk to Strauss." She was starting to babble, not only was her life falling apart, she was taking his with her. She looked at him with wild eyes. "This can't happen."

He moved until he was in front of her and bent down to eye level. "Hey." He spoke sharply to get her attention. "I don't regret this. There are a lot of things that I wish I could change. Things I wish I would have said and done differently but we can't go back. At the end of the day, I don't regret sleeping with you and I certainly don't regret the end result of that action."

His words caused her to blush. She certainly didn't regret it and she'd never regret Henry but it shouldn't have cost him his job. "You worked too hard for that role to have it stripped away."

"It may just be a temporary action." He shrugged. "I'm not losing my job, hell I'm not even being placed on probation or losing pay. Which is a good thing considering that I owe you a small fortune in back child support."

"Don't joke about this." The words came out on a sob.

"Who's joking?" Hotch strolled over to his desk and located a file that he brought back over to her. "You can have your own lawyer look at these figures. I think they're fair but if you disagree we can discuss it."

She barely had an opportunity to open the file when Morgan rapped on the door. "They're ready for us." He nodded briefly, acknowledging JJ.

Hotch turned back to JJ. "Are you ready for this?" He asked, extending his hand to her.

JJ blew out a breath and placed her hand in his. He gave her hand a quick squeeze in support and released it after she stood. "We are so not done talking about that file." She warned him.

JJ felt a sense of déjà vu when she walked in the room and saw the team sitting there with expectant looks on their faces. Had it really been less than a week ago when she announced her divorce?

"How you holding up, kiddo?" Dave asked her sincerely. "We missed you this week."

She gave him a slight smile. "Thanks, Dave."

"You need anything? I know a good lawyer."

"He has him on speed dial." Emily snarked as she pushed out the chair beside her for JJ to occupy.

"Looks like you've made a friend." Dave remarked to Hotch who was still holding on to Henry. His eyes widened in surprise when Reid held out his hands for Henry to go and see him and was rebuked as the little boy shook his head and further snuggled into Hotch's shoulder. No one in the room missed the little smile of victory that Hotch gave at being preferred over Uncle Spencer.

"Do you want to do this?" Morgan asked Hotch, clearly not happy with the events of the day.

Hotch nodded and placed a hand on Morgan's shoulder steadying him and keeping him close. He waited until he had everyone's attention. "I'd like to announce that Derek has been promoted to the role of Unit Chief."

There was a round of applause and congratulations before Reid asked what that meant for Hotch. He smiled and squeezed Morgan's shoulder. "It means I'll be taking orders instead of giving them."

"Why?" Never one to dance around the subject Rossi came straight to the point.

Hotch decided to be just as direct. "I've been relieved of my supervisory position for inappropriate conduct pending an investigation."

Rossi laughed, thinking Hotch was joking. "No, seriously?"

Hotch drew a breath then stated in a firm voice, "I had a relationship with an employee under my direct supervision that resulted in a child."

The entire room was quiet. The smile dropped from Rossi's face before he exploded. "Bullshit. If this is another attempt by Strauss to discredit you she's going to find out pretty damn quick that I'm not without friends in high places myself."

Hotch held up a hand to stop his rant. "Dave, this isn't a joke."

One by one they caught on to the implications of the past week, JJ's pending divorce, Hotch's personal leave, and the fact that their former Unit Chief was currently snuggling a small child that he looked completely comfortable with who looked completely comfortable with him.

"Oh wow." Prentiss looked from JJ to Hotch.

"No wonder you two were able to keep Prentiss's secret so easily. You've had years of practice lying together."

"Reid." Morgan's voice held a sharp note of reprimand.

"What? I think it's a fair assessment. They have a kid together and none of us had a clue."

JJ's eyes met Reid's in a plea for understanding. "I just told Hotch." JJ admitted in a small voice. "I only found out in November. We, I, didn't deliberately set out to deceive anyone."

"Oh sweetie, of course you didn't." Emily shot Reid a scowl.

"Oh, Peaches." Garcia moved quickly to come and stand behind her friend easily sensing her distress.

Hotch was not about to plead for anything. "I'm not going to stand here and offer explanations or apologies. Anything that happened between JJ and I is private and I'm not going to publicize it. However it came about, whatever the repercussions are we'll deal with them and hopefully it will have as little impact as possible on the office environment."

"Are you kidding?" Rossi scoffed, "This is huge."

"Is JJ going to face any disciplinary action too?" Reid asked hesitantly, over his initial blast of anger and fearing the worst for his friend.

Hotch looked at JJ reassuringly as he answered calmly. "No."

The pit of her stomach completely bottomed out as she realized fully exactly what he'd done. Before she could speak he confirmed her worst fears.

"I took complete responsibility for my actions…"

"You didn't exactly act alone." JJ argued, incensed that he would shoulder the blame in an attempt to shield her from any censure.

Hotch held his ground. "I was the senior officer, JJ. I assume the responsibility."

"I don't need you to assume the responsibility. I was an active, willing participant." They both realized the rapt audience at the same time.

"This probably isn't the time to have this conversation." Hotch bit out.

"Fine, but this topic isn't over either." JJ replied shooting an angry glance at him.

For a moment no one spoke, the news was too huge to process. Their little family dynamic just changed drastically. "So." Rossi drawled, finally breaking the silence. "This calls for a celebration. Derek got a promotion and Hotch is a dad again." The pronouncement brought out more than one smile.

"Ooh, I'll bake a cake." Garcia proclaimed. "I got this recipe that is just to die for." She tossed Derek a wink then turned to Hotch. "You know what we should do? We should totally have a baby shower."

Their former leader gave a small grin. "Henry's not a baby, Penelope." He pointed out unnecessarily.

"There are probably a lot of things you need at your house that are Henry appropriate that you no longer have now that Jack is older." The idea had taken hold and she wasn't about to let it go. She looked up at him and beseeched, "I'm going to need to do this to make something good come for this whole situation."

Hotch nodded in understanding but looked at JJ when he told her. "Something good did come from this."

"So, we are going to have a party, right?" Rossi questioned. "I know just the caterer."

"Make sure you get the shrimp puffs." Emily stated.

"Oh and don't forget the little quiches." Reid added.

JJ watched as her team filed out of the conference room. Reid finally managed to steal Henry away from Hotch but it was only fleetingly. As soon as he set Henry on the ground he went racing after Hotch.

Garcia was riveted by the scene. "He certainly seems to like his daddy." Penelope noted, having stayed behind with JJ.

"He's a little confused. He misses Will and has latched on to Hotch." Her eyes misted over a bit. "He's been spending a lot of time with Hotch and Jack this week."

Garcia nodded, intrigued at that information. "How's Jack handling it?"

"He's a little confused too." JJ wiped a tear that had rebelliously strayed.

"How's JJ handling it?" Pen asked.

The slight blonde blew out a shaky breath and confessed. "I'm a mess. I've ruined everyone's lives."

Penelope watched as Hotch tossed Henry in the air and caught him. "Yeah, Hotch looks miserable." She slung an arm around her friends shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

Her voice wavered as she said. "He had to step down from a job that he loved."

"JJ, Aaron Hotchner doesn't do anything without careful consideration. I'm sure he thought this out." Penelope sat down and pulled the other woman down beside her. "So, tell me, what's Boss Man like in bed? I cannot believe you've had that knowledge for so long and haven't shared."

In spite of everything JJ felt a bubble of laughter emerging. "Pen."

"Everything is going to be okay, Peaches." She dropped a kiss on her forehead. "You can get back to me on my question. I'm going to need full disclosure. You know, things like is his ass as biteable as it looks?" She wagged her eyebrows at JJ and was rewarded with a hard earned chuckle.

**Thanks for reading! As always thank you so much for the reviews, favorites and follows. It makes my heart happy to know you're reading my story. Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Second Time Around Chapter Five**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – Beta-free, seriously if ya'll see any mistakes let me know. I re-read and check but a lot of time I see/read the mistake the way it should have been written and miss it entirely. **

~~CM~~

Realizing that he couldn't put it off any longer Hotch made plans to travel to New York to see Beth and share his news with her. In addition to his uncertainty of how she was going to handle it, he now worried that he waited too long to tell her. He'd known now for over two weeks. He approached her door with trepidation.

"Hello Stranger." She answered the door in a skimpy teddy covered by an equally flimsy robe.

Hotch gulped at her even as his head swiveled to make sure that no one else saw her. "You know you probably shouldn't answer your door like that."

His lack of enthusiasm over her lack of attire had her puzzled; she'd been anticipating a much more eager response. "Aaron, I knew that it was you on the other side." She teased.

"Oh, right." He didn't know what he was thinking of course she knew he was coming.

She titled her head at him. "Aaron, is everything okay?"

"What? Yes, everything is fine." He stepped over the threshold. "I, uh, just need to talk to you."

She smiled as she leaned into him. "You want to talk now?" She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss against his mouth. "We've got all weekend. We can talk later." She tugged on his tie. "Talking isn't really what I'm in the mood for right now." Her traveling hands were letting him know exactly what she had in mind.

Hotch sighed, placed his hands on her arms and set her away from him. "Please, can we talk first? I'm not sure you're going to like what I have to say."

Frowning, Beth stepped back and tightened the wrap she had hanging loosely around her. "That sounds kind of ominous."

Not quite sure how to start the conversation even though he practiced the entire ride up, he just jumped in. "Several years ago I had a short lived relationship."

Her surprise was evident. She frowned. "Are you telling me that you had an affair?"

Hotch shook his head. It hadn't been an affair. "The divorce papers had been served and signed by both Haley and I. It wasn't an affair."

The vehemence of the statement sent up a tiny warning bell. "O-kay."

"The woman I was with was convinced that Haley and I were going to get back together and she broke things off." He paused, not sure exactly how to tell this part. "She, um, she was pregnant at the time."

"Oh. Wow." Nothing could have surprised her more. She stepped back creating distance between them. He was right, she definitely didn't like where this conversation was headed.

"At the time the doctor gave her a conception date that fell out of the period that we were together she assumed that the baby was her boyfriend's."

"Okay, busy girl, there was a boyfriend too." She commented under her breath.

"Like I said, she thought Haley and I were going to reconcile," Hotch rubbed a hand across his face admitting, "Hell, I probably thought it myself, she started seriously seeing the guy a couple of weeks after we decided to end it. Anyway she had the baby and married the boyfriend and none of us questioned anything until there was a medical issue in November – "

"You've known since November?" She asked sharply.

He shook his head and finished speaking. "No. I didn't." God he was bungling this badly. "There was a routine test and the father discovered that he really wasn't the father."

Beth narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you were the only other candidate? Because it doesn't seem like your gal pal hesitated in jumping from your bed to his."

Harsh as the statement was Hotch understood where Beth was coming from, after all, she didn't really know JJ. "She was hurt. I didn't exactly give her any reason to believe that I wanted more than what it was." Hotch reiterated.

"A booty call?" Beth asked dryly.

"It wasn't like that." It hadn't been; they were two lonely people finding comfort with one another. He'd felt something for JJ, but he'd been too hung up on the idea of fixing his broken marriage. He realized too late it wasn't going to happen, but by then it was also too late for him and JJ.

"No one questioned the possibility that it could have been your child?" She couldn't believe that he wouldn't have.

"Of course I asked if there was a possibility but she told me what she'd been told. There was no reason to question what the doctor told her and there were no other parties involved."

"You hope." Beth told him, finding it easy to believe that someone as nice as he could be duped by a less than honest woman. She wouldn't stand idly by and allow that to happen. "I certainly hope you didn't blindly accept responsibility for a child that might not belong to you."

"Henry is my son." Hotch stated emphatically.

The name triggered a reaction. So many things fell into place. "Oh my God, you had an affair with JJ." She'd met the team on several occasions; she easily recalled the pretty blonde and the little towheaded boy. The woman who had an easy and friendly relationship with the man she was currently seeing.

"I had a short lived relationship. We were both single." There'd been nothing disreputable about his relationship with JJ.

"Yeah, sure. How does her husband feel about that?" She looked at him now with open distrust. "You're her boss. You two travel all over the country together. You're probably still sleeping together." She stepped further away from him. "No wonder you are defending her so zealously."

Hotch stared at her for a moment not sure how to respond to her allegations. "I'm pretty sure if you think that than you must not know me at all."

"I'm not sure how you expect me to respond." Beth whined. "You never told me you had a relationship with JJ and now you're telling me not only did you have a relationship but you have another child as a result of it."

He stared at her for a second. "I think I should probably leave."

"So that's it. I'm surprised you didn't dump me over the phone or in an email." She told him bitterly.

"I didn't come here to dump you, Beth. I wanted to do you the courtesy of telling you about this in person. I can see the news has stunned you; if you no longer want to see me I'll understand."

She didn't answer his question but rather asked, "You're convinced that Henry is your child?"

"Yes." There was no doubt in his mind.

She pursed her lips. "So, what, are you having him tested? Suing for custody?"

"I already provided DNA for testing so I can get his birth certificate and name changed." He told her. "JJ and I have already worked out a custody agreement."

She discovered she really didn't like the coupling of their names. "What does Will have to say about all of this?"

He sighed, anticipating her reaction to the news he now had to tell her. "Will has decided to go back to New Orleans."

That news stunned her even more completely, knees weak she sank on to the couch. "So that leaves JJ all alone and leaning on you as the two of you bond over your son?" She responded snidely. "How long before you pick up where you left off? Or have you already?"

The ringing of his cell prevented his response. Looking briefly at the caller id he quickly answered the call. "Hotchner."

"Hotch, Hi." JJ's voice was strained. "I am really sorry to bother you."

He could hear the sounds of distress in the background. "That's okay, what's going on?"

"Henry is throwing a fit."

"I can hear that. Why?" He heard his son's chant. 'Hotch, Daddy, Hotch, Daddy.' Then the heartbreaking sounds of sobbing.

"He's confused, Will left and now you're gone too."

"I just traveled to New York for the weekend." He stated calmly.

JJ's sigh could be heard over the phone. "I know. I'm not chastising you. I don't resent the fact that you went to New York. I just don't know what to do, he won't settle."

"Do you think he'll talk to me?" Hotch suggested.

"Henry, honey, your Daddy Hotch is on the phone." Aaron heard the sounds of chaos as JJ tried to talk to him to get him to come to the phone but Henry didn't want to hear his father, he wanted to see his father and he wasn't about to be placated by hearing his voice.

"Hotch?" JJ addressed him. "He won't come to the phone."

It was Hotch's turn to sigh heavily. "Yeah, I heard."

"He's never done this before. Everything is just so confusing for him." She sighed again as the heartbreaking sounds of Henry's sobbing carried over the phone line. "I'll let you go, I'm going to call Spence and see if he can't come over and settle him."

The mere thought that someone, other than him, would be to sooth his child had him speaking up. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Don't be silly." JJ protested. "I didn't call to guilt you into ending your trip."

He never even considered that a possibility. "I know that." He assured her.

"He'll wear himself out and fall asleep. I'm so sorry I bothered you. We'll call you tomorrow. It'll be okay."

The idea of his son crying himself to sleep because he missed him didn't set any better. "I'll see you soon." He told her.

"Well, now I guess we know where Henry gets his willfulness from."

He didn't contradict her rather he reiterated, "I'll see you soon."

"Yep, I see that clearly now." She mused. "Okay, obviously I'm not going to change your mind so I guess I'll see you when you get here."

Hotch ended the call and turned back to where Beth was studying him. "I, uh, need to get back to DC. Henry isn't doing well with the adjustment and he's not handling my absence well."

"How convenient." She scowled at him. "Did you have that all planned out?"

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry this appears contrived to you. Again, I'm disappointed that you would even think me capable of that." He pierced her with a look. "I'm not going to apologize for something that happened long before I even knew you, nor am I going to justify what happened between JJ and me to you." He had his hand on the doorknob and was ready to exit the apartment. "I understand that this is probably shocking. I was surprised myself, but finding out Henry was my son was the best news I've had in a long time. I'm sorry that you find that fact disagreeable."

The house was dark by the time he arrived back in the city. JJ had texted him when he was still almost an hour out to let him know that Henry had finally conked out but assured him he was still welcome to come by. She understood him well enough to know that he needed to see his son. She must have been waiting for him because she pulled the door open before he even had an opportunity to ring the bell.

"Hey." She took one look at his disheveled appearance and sighed. "I really wish I would have thought about it before I called you. I never expected for you to turn around and come home. He just wouldn't stop crying and asking for you." She closed the door behind him. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't ever apologize for calling me when it concerns our son." He replied gruffly dropping onto the couch.

"Wow. Went that well, huh?" She walked to the sideboard and poured him a healthy dose of scotch.

"I'm not sure it could have gone worse." He told her as he accepted the glass.

JJ winced. "I'm sorry."

He took a sip and looked up at her. "I really wish you'd stop apologizing."

"She probably thought that I called you on purpose." She gave a self-deprecating laugh at the flush that crept up his cheeks and wondered again if he thought she did as well. "Maybe you should go check on Henry."

He knew instinctively what conclusion she'd just arrived at. "Jesus JJ, I know that you didn't call to ruin my weekend."

She looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes." He answered without hesitation. Then he admitted, "Beth wasn't so sure. In fact, she was suspicious about a lot of what I told her."

"I'm –

"I swear to God the next word out of your mouth better not be sorry."

"I was going to say hungry." JJ teased.

"Good." Hotch stood and pulled his jacket off. "I'm starved. I've just spent almost eight hours traveling and I'm pretty sure I got dumped tonight."

JJ felt another pang for what she was putting him through, first his job, now his girl. "What a bitch. I never liked her anyway." She laughed at his stunned expression. "Hey, you're the one who told me not to say the "S" word again." She headed towards the kitchen while he headed towards his son. Making him dinner was the least she could do.

Twenty minutes later he joined her in the kitchen. "His eyes are swollen." It tore him to pieces to see that he had been so affected by his absence. He made a mental promise to never let it happen again.

She turned from the stove to find Henry nestled in his arms. "Did you wake him up?"

"No." At her look, he qualified his statement. "Not really. I just let him know that I was here. I wanted to make sure he knows that I'm not going to leave him." He just needed to hold him.

"Hotch, he's three."

"I shouldn't have gone to New York." He said self-reproachful.

"He's never done this before." She sat a plate of food in front of him. "Maybe you should go and lay him back down."

"I tried," He admitted, sheepishly. "He doesn't want to let go." He found that he was okay with that fact. He picked up the fork beside the plate and started to eat managing fairly easy until he got to the chicken. He gave a small smile as JJ rolled her eyes and began to cut the meat in manageable pieces. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She poured them both a glass of iced tea. "Do you want to talk about it? I probably shouldn't have called her the B word but I can't believe she would dump you. It's not like you got me pregnant recently."

He grinned at the slight blush her words produced. "I think she resents the fact that I never told her that I had a relationship with you."

"Did she tell you about all of her previous boyfriends?" JJ argued.

He didn't answer her question. "You never told Will either, did you?"

"No." She said softly. "He was jealous enough without having ammunition." She didn't find out until they discovered Henry was Hotch's that he had always suspected anyway. "Why didn't you tell Beth?"

"I gave that a lot of thought on the ride home." He'd actually thought of it quite a bit over the past two weeks.

Curiosity had her asking, "Yeah? Did you come up with anything?"

"I'm not really proud of what happened between us." He said softly.

She blinked in surprise. "Oh, wow. You know, maybe I don't want to know this."

He continued to talk. "I'm not proud of the way I behaved. I cared for you, JJ, but I was so tangled up in knots over Haley that I never should have touched you." He watched as she bit her lips and dropped her eyes to the table, avoiding contact with him. "I wasn't in the right place to handle a relationship with you, but damn it, I wanted you. Even so, I managed to screw it up almost immediately and before I even had a chance to fix what I'd done you were with Will and I convinced myself the right thing to do was to let you go. I didn't tell Beth, I didn't tell anyone, because even thought it was short lived, it was special to me. I treasured that brief time together and I treasure what came from it."

For the longest time she didn't speak, she didn't even raise her head. He knew his words affected her because he'd seen the tear drops hit the table. Still she didn't say anything. What good were words this late anyway? But she found she couldn't stop herself from whispering, "I loved you." She finally lifted her head wanting to see his face when she repeated, "I was so in love with you."

**Thanks for reading! Special thank you to all that review, favorite and/or follow. I'm very appreciative that you are taking the time to read my story. Hope you enjoy it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Second Time Around Chapter Six**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – This was a really hard chapter for me because I wanted to convey that while interested in one another they were both a little gun shy. I know that I tend to just throw them together and bam! Happily ever after. Believe me, I want to, but I also want to try to do a slow build. **

**Side note - Ofmanyfandoms – Yikes! Jack is featured briefly here and in chapter 8 there is much more of him. It was not my intent to leave him out.**

~~CM~~

The words that she'd uttered created a little spell around the non-couple. It brought them closer but neither was able to quite make the move to propel them into something more. They didn't discuss her admission but it affected them both deeply.

For Hotch her words were never far from his mind. He suffered a bout of deep regret wishing he would have been wiser. Ultimately he decided while he couldn't change the past he could influence the future. He may have not known what he wanted four years ago but that wasn't the case today.

For JJ she felt freer with her admission. She'd always wondered if he realized and just let her walk away but that hadn't been the case at all. He had been as confused about their relationship as she was. The fact that he had desired her and regretted that their relationship ended had been a balm as well. If only they would have been smart enough to talk back then!

The weekend past, then a week went by, then a month, then another. They got into a rhythm. Without even recognizing it, they became a pseudo family. Jack had even begun to ask to spend weekends at JJ's when Hotch didn't have Henry. Their lives became further intertwined with one another.

Henry met Jess. JJ had been surprised when Hotch asked if his sister in law could meet Henry. She was even more surprised when he told her that Jess wanted JJ to be the one to bring him. JJ was sure she was going to get an earful when she brought Henry over but she had been pleasantly surprised.

"He's a beautiful boy." Jess said.

"Thank you." JJ replied sincerely.

Haley's sister smiled knowingly. "I know this is awkward. But I wanted to meet both of you again. I've noticed such a difference in both Jack and Hotch that I knew it was important." She smiled. "You know, Haley would have been happy knowing that they were both happy." She chuckled a little. "Don't get me wrong she would have been jealous as all get out because you are so pretty."

"There is nothing going on with me and Hotch." The young mother felt necessary to share.

Jess chuckled but didn't press the issue. "JJ you have a baby together, at one time you and Aaron had something going on."

JJ blushed and kept her mouth shut.

"I never agreed with Haley's decision to divorce Aaron. I think she thought he would see it as the threat it was and leave the BAU. He interpreted it as her being unhappy with him and he signed the papers because he wanted to do whatever it took to make her happy."

JJ sat quietly as Jess spoke, finding the whole situation very sad. It also helped give her further insight to the man that Hotch was.

"JJ, I haven't seen my brother in law this happy in a long time." Jess smiled as she watched the boys. "Jack too, I'm really glad that he has a sibling. I resigned myself to the fact he would be an only child so I'm extremely pleased he will know what it's like to have a brother and get to enjoy both sibling rivalry and friendship."

All in all it had been a very good meeting. It turned even better when Jess offered to keep Henry, just like she kept Jack, when the team traveled. After all he was kind of her nephew too, right? JJ just smiled and agreed. More family was never a bad thing.

JJ was also reintroduced to Hotch's brother Sean. Sean Hotchner had been captivated by his newest nephew, especially when it was discovered he was fair haired and blonde much like he was.

He had made several trips to reconnect with his brother and his family. Especially after finding how much he enjoyed the jealousy his brother exhibited whenever they were in the company of Henry's pretty mother.

"What do you plan to do about that?" He asked his normally taciturn brother.

"About what Sean?" Hotch asked with a sigh. They were at the zoo and JJ had walked on ahead with Jack and Henry, holding both of their hands as they enjoyed the spring day.

Sean grinned seeing where his brother's attention was focused. "She really has an amazing ass. I don't know how you managed to not only walk away but stay away from that. My mouth is watering just looking at it." He watched as his brother turned a scary shade.

"You realize that I know how to kill you without leaving any trace."

Sean threw his head back and laughed. "You are way too easy. I'm not interested in your pretty baby mama but you can bet that others will be. Hell she's walking with two small boys and she's still turning heads."

"Yeah, thanks, I hadn't noticed." Hotch grumbled, still not sure what to do about the bubble they were existing in.

Sean wasn't the only one from New York City to make the trip to DC to get a look at Hotch's newest family member. Beth had come down the weekend after Hotch's horrible trip to tell her about Henry. She arrived at his house on Saturday afternoon when Hotch had both boys.

She apologized for her comments then proceeded to tell Hotch that Henry didn't look anything like him. Until Uncle Sean made an appearance and the family resemblance was apparent. She tried to repair the things she had said but the words that JJ uttered that same fateful evening were the only ones that resonated with Hotch. He wanted a relationship, but it wasn't with the brunette.

Hotch told Beth while he appreciated her apology he didn't have the time or energy for a relationship now that he had two active boys. She had taken that pronouncement about as well as she had the first one and Henry and Jack were treated to some new words for their vocabulary. Hotch didn't expect any further communication from the brunette.

The team had also noticed the changes within the pair including the amount of time that they now spent with one another. Not to mention that they seemed to be drawn more and more to one another. They had recently begun to place bets on whether or not they would take the next step and actually become a real couple. Morgan gave it six months. The rest of the team just laughed doubting it would take anywhere near that long.

It was Henry's accident that catapulted their relationship forward. They were working a local case when the little boy's preschool called. He had fallen playing soccer and wrenched his arm. The nurse looked at it and everything looked fine but he refused to settle. Hotch had been out of his office and half way to his car when they said the words 'Henry' and 'accident' so it hadn't mattered.

JJ had returned from an interview to find her son roaming through the bullpen entertaining the team with his antics.

She sent Hotch a questioning glance. "He fell and got hurt at school." Hotch told her.

"Daddy come get me." Her son told her proudly.

JJ smiled indulgently at her boy but looked over at his father and asked. "Don't you think he could have stayed at school? He's going to think that every time he has a boo boo he can demand that you come and get him. You're creating bad habits."

She'd made the comment to Hotch but their bright boy got the gist of what she was saying. "No. I want daddy."

JJ frowned, Hotch had been great stepping in and up to the plate with no questions but he had a tendency to be a little lax on the discipline. Case in point, her son now thought it was acceptable to speak back to her. She scooped him up and sat him on her chair. "Henry, you do not tell mommy no. It's not nice."

Just as she predicted Henry threw his head back and hollered. "I want daddy."

Within seconds Hotch scooped up their son and began to coddle him. "Hey. What's all this about?"

It was too much for JJ. "Conference room. Now." She growled and strode away with every expectation that he would follow. "What are you doing?" She asked to a surprised Hotch when he entered the room.

"I'm really not sure." He responded hesitantly recognizing she was annoyed. "But apparently whatever it I'm doing is wrong."

The team watched on in amused anticipation.

"Ooh, looks like Hotch is going to get a spanking." Morgan cracked.

"He wishes!" Emily laughed.

Garcia fanned herself looking at the two combatants. "I just wish they'd get over it and get it on already."

"There is a fair amount of sex tension between the two of them." Reid agreed.

Rossi snorted. "That's putting it mildly."

"You cannot undermine my attempts at discipline. I put Henry in the chair so he understands that he can't speak back to me." JJ told the clueless man.

"JJ, he had an accident, he's a baby…"

JJ looked at him incredulously. There was part of his problem right there. "He's not a baby, Aaron."

"He's my baby." The man stated stubbornly.

"Argh!" JJ screamed. "You drive me nuts. This is ridiculous, he should be in school. He fell down but he's fine. You can see that he's fine. You're creating bad habits. He won't behave for me because you give in to him all the time. He needs rules and structure and, now this one is a hard one so listen closely, he needs discipline."

Hotch narrowed his eyes. "Are you implying that I'm a pushover?"

"No. I'm not implying anything. I'm stating it. Clearly. Emphatically."

Henry hugged his father tightly. "Mommy's mad."

JJ raised a brow as Hotch fought to control the smile that threatened to erupt.

"Maybe," Hotch conceded, "I am a little too lenient."

"A little?" JJ scoffed.

"Meet me halfway, JJ. I am trying. I missed a lot of important stuff with Henry already. I just want to be a good dad." He looked pleadingly at the angry blonde. "Apparently I'm overcompensating."

JJ sighed, her anger diffused. She knew that. "Aaron, you are a good dad, you've always been a good dad which is why this drives me so crazy. You would never let Jack get away with the stuff that Henry has been pulling."

He knew that she was right he just couldn't help himself. "JJ, Henry is a good kid."

JJ smiled at her little man who was listening intently to his parent's conversation. "Yes, he is but lately he's been very defiant and quite honestly a little sassy. He reads you like a book and has you wrapped around his little finger." JJ rolled her eyes as the manipulative little turkey laid his head on his dad's shoulder. "I have to spend hours undoing all the bad habits that he's picking up."

"Maybe you could point out to me what I'm doing? I'm not trying to counteract everything you taught him, Jay. I just can't help spoiling him a little." His request for help was sincere. Sure he wanted to spend more time with both of them but he wasn't using his son to get to his mother. He knew he had her when she sighed. "How about we discuss it at dinner?" He asked with a lopsided grin.

The blonde sighed again. "You make it really hard to be mad at you."

"Look at that," He smiled adorably, "Henry taught his dad something."

"Don't be a smart ass." JJ told him with a grin, preparing to leave the room.

Henry's eyes went round at the use of the bad word. "Mommy said a bad word." Henry told his dad.

"Do you think we should put mommy in time out?" Hotch asked, tickling his son playfully.

"No." The little boy giggled. "Give mommy a spanking." He teased.

Their eyes met and held and the arousal, always so close to the surface, flared. "You might want to let that one go." JJ advised, seeing the wicked grin on his face.

"I am pretty sure I don't." Hotch laughed.

JJ rolled her eyes. "What do you want for dinner?" She asked, forcibly changing the subject.

"What are my options?" The gleam in his eyes told her his mind was still on another track.

"Well I'm certainly not on the menu." She hissed as they walked towards the bullpen.

Hotch stopped abruptly and reached for her, making her look up at him. It was a sliver but damn if he wasn't going to use it. "That's a shame because that would definitely be something I was interested in." His eyes were doing a pretty good job conveying his interest.

"I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to respond to that." JJ said awkwardly aware that they were standing in the middle of the office, and that they had a captivated audience.

He knew that this probably wasn't the place to broach this but who knew when he'd get the opportunity again? "Maybe by letting me know if you are at all receptive to the idea?"

"Hotch." JJ bit her bottom lip, a telltale sign of her distress.

He knew that he was treading a fine line but it didn't stop him moving closer to her or from asking what he'd wanted to ask her for months. "You loved me before JJ do you think it's possible that you could again?"

**Thanks for reading! Thanks for all the reviews and favorites/follows. I really appreciate the interest and support!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Second Chances Chapter Eight **

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – This is AU so I tinkered with the timetable a bit for my own purposes. Still betaless.**

"Yowzers!" Garcia exclaimed, happy that JJ stayed behind and that she was getting the scoop. "What did you say?"

JJ shot her a frustrated look. "Nothing." She grumbled. "What could I say? The stupid case broke open and he was handing me Henry, giving me a piercing look, and racing out the door." She smiled down at the small boy that was currently coloring in the coloring book his dad kept in his office drawer on the floor of Penelope Garcia's office.

"But if you could have said something?" Garcia prompted.

JJ rubbed at her temples. "I'm not sure that I could stand getting swept up in that vortex again."

"Oh Peaches." Garcia said sympathetically. "Don't you think it's already too late?"

JJ looked over at her friend with a pout and admitted. "Yes."

Garcia's smile grew wider. "Lately he reminds of how he was when I first met him. He's so much happier and relaxed these days. He looks better too. You make him happy Jayje."

"Henry makes him happy." JJ scoffed, not sure she wanted that credit.

Garcia couldn't argue that point and said as much. "No, you're right; having Henry in his life has definitely made a difference." She smiled down at the oblivious boy. "He really loves his boys. But Jay, you're blind as a bat if you don't see the way he looks at you."

Fear was evident on JJ's face. "I don't know Pen; say we try again this again. What happens if it fails like it did the first time? Now we have two boys that would be affected."

"So are you telling me that you don't want to risk it because it _might_ fail?" Pen scoffed. "JJ that's crazy. You could also end up having a wonderful life together. Seriously, you walked away from him the first time because you thought he was going to go back to Haley. You made a bad assumption. Newsflash, there is no more Haley."

JJ's mouth dropped, "Pen!"

The TA threw up her hands. "I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just pointing out that there aren't any obstacles." Garcia clarified.

"He's my boss." JJ pointed out weakly.

"Not anymore." She reminded her. Little had changed even though they moved Hotch out of the BAU Unit Chief, he was reprimanded and a note of sanction was put in his file but they pretty much continued as usual.

JJ looked at her pointedly. "We still work together."

"Find another job!" Pen complained exasperated that her friend refused to see the opportunity that was right in front of her face. "JJ very few people are ever granted second chances."

"I'm so scared, Pen." If she could, she would admit that every second spent in his company was cherished. If something were to fail this time she wasn't sure that she'd be able to handle it.

Garcia moved over to where her friend sat. "You don't have to be. Trust yourself. Trust Hotch." She gave her a hug. "JJ, you know Will didn't leave because he didn't love you and Henry he left because he knew that you've always loved Hotch."

"I loved Will, Pen." JJ stated adamantly. "Maybe not like I should have." She reluctantly admitted. She had always held a little back in her relationship with Will. It was one of the reasons it had been so easily unraveled when the news about Henry was revealed.

Garcia sighed. "I know you did, Peaches, but underneath there were your feelings for Hotch that never completely went away. When you found out that Henry was Hotch's Will knew it was only a matter of time that those feelings resurfaced."

"I would have never…" She paused, unable to finish the sentence because she honestly didn't know. There had been times when she imagined turning to Hotch to and for comfort. There were times that she relived their brief time together.

Pen looked at her knowingly. "Never say never. You're already being swept back into his gravitational pull. You two are like magnets. Stop kicking yourself for past mistakes and take a chance." She let her words sink in. "You know, you never told me the story of how you got together in the first place."

JJ tried to beg off. "It's a long story."

"I have nothing but time." Garcia told her with a sly smile. "Humor me, I'm curious."

"He asked me why I wasn't a profiler." JJ said with a smile. "You know, everyone thinks Dave is the reason I became a profiler, but long before Dave encouraged me to do it Hotch was the one that told me I could. Most everyone else saw me as eye candy, a pretty face to the public but he never did."

Penelope smile. "No, he wouldn't."

JJ looked over at her. "No. Don't get me wrong. I knew that he found me attractive but I also knew that he valued the work that I did."

"Of course he did, he still does." Garcia assured her then prompted. "So…"

JJ sighed and knew that she wasn't going to be able to dodge Pen's question. Settling into the chair, making sure the door was closed, she started talking. "I think I've always been attracted to him. He's a good looking guy. He was a good husband and good dad, and that's really attractive." She told Pen. "But he was always 'off limits'. Then all of a sudden he wasn't. Not long after he," She shrugged, not sure how to categorize the encounter, "Complimented me I started looking at him a little closer. Then we all found out he was getting a divorce and I started looking even closer."

"You little minx."

JJ rolled her eyes. "I was pretty certain he was looking back, but I couldn't be sure until one evening I walked out to my car and he was standing by it. He asked if I wanted to get a drink, and we did."

Garcia grinned. "How long before you jumped into the sack."

"Pen." JJ groaned.

"Oh come on. I want the juicy details I don't care if he opened the car door for you. Unless that's a euphemism for something else."

"About two hours after he stood by my car." JJ admitted. "Happy?"

Garcia clapped her hands unable to contain her glee. "Yes! Oh that is delicious!"

"Shut up." JJ grumbled with a blush.

"Hey, I'm not judging. It just tickles me that two such level headed, no nonsense individuals such as you and Hotch would just fall into bed."

"It didn't feel like rushing. It felt natural, comfortable, and right." JJ recalled waking up wrapped in his arms the following morning. There had been no awkwardness, no regret. That had come much later when Haley ran into the pair at a local restaurant.

"How did Will get tangled into all of this?"

JJ sighed. "I don't know. We had decided to take it slow." She laughed at Pen's snort. "Yeah, I know. Ironic, huh? Anyway, Haley had found out that we were spending time together. I don't think she had any idea that it was anything other than friendship, but she didn't like it at all, and Hotch was trying to … probably be respectful, but he was confusing. I wasn't sure what he wanted from me and I broke things off. I was sure his behavior meant he intended to go back to Haley." She reflected back knowing what she knew now and sighed.

After a minute she picked it up again. "I had met Will before on a case, we flirted. I gave him my card. I even talked with him a couple of times while I was dating Hotch. Nothing serious, he just called to let me know he was interested. He was very persistent. It was flattering. He called right after I ended things with Hotch and convinced me to come for a visit. I did and I let him make me feel better."

"Oh honey."

"He knew," JJ's voice broke, "That I had just gotten out of a relationship he said he didn't care…"

Pen could see the anguish on her friends face. "JJ."

"He deserved so much better, Pen."

"You all did." Garcia pointed out.

"It happened so fast. I can still remember the look on Hotch's face when he found out I was pregnant." She swallowed hard. "God, then when he told me 'Congratulations' and I could see the heartbreak on his face."

Pen was filled with sympathy. "Oh wow." She looked down at the boy that had fallen asleep on her carpet. "Didn't you ever question what the doctor was telling you?"

JJ looked thoughtful. "There were times. But I'm stubborn. I convinced myself that Hotch didn't want me and Will did. I told myself that I was with who I should be with and didn't look back. Much. There were times when I thought of how things would have been different if things would have worked out with Hotch but I was happy with Will. Maybe we weren't over the moon in love, but we were happy."

"Have you heard from him?"

JJ nodded. "Yeah. He called once he was settled. He's back on the force down there. He found a small house he's going to fix up. He told me that he was sorry for the way things worked out." She looked at Garcia. "Then he asked if Hotch and I were dating yet."

Garcia chuckled.

JJ smiled. He hadn't been asking to be a jerk. He sincerely wished her and Hotch the best. She hadn't known what to say. "He said that moving away really helped him gain perspective on everything. He was incredibly decent about everything." He had called to apologize for some of the things he said to JJ once the truth of Henry's parentage had been revealed. He'd known he had been unfair and hard on her when she really hadn't deserved it. She wasn't sure that she was ready to agree with his assessment.

Garcia reached out and squeezed JJ's hand. "He's a good guy."

"He is." They heard the commotion in the hall alerting them that the team was back.

"Speaking of good guys." Garcia cocked her head. She wasn't sure what was going on but they were behaving loud and boisterous. Curious she and JJ followed the noise back into the bullpen.

"Oh my." Penelope stopped short without any warning causing JJ to bump into her.

"You might want to let someone know you're planning on…" JJ stopped short at the scene in front of her. The normally immaculate Aaron Hotchner was a mess. His suit jacket was gone, as was his tie. His shirt was in tatters the entire left arm missing and there was a crisp white bandage around his upper arm. "What happened?"

Hotch watched as she made her way across the room to stand in front of him. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Morgan roared, "I wouldn't be here if it were for your quick reflexes, we're damn lucky all you were was grazed."

"You were _shot_ at?" JJ questioned, her hand lifting of its own violation to inspect his wound. "Did you go to the hospital?"

Hotch swallowed hard as her hand softly examined his injury. "No the EMTs checked me out I don't need to go to the hospital."

"It could be infected."

"It's barely a scratch." Hotch argued.

"Still, he probably shouldn't be alone tonight. He's going to need someone to help him change the bandage. Make sure he doesn't start a fever." Rossi mentioned casually.

"He also has a prescription for antibiotics he needs filled." Emily pointed out easily catching on to what Rossi was up to.

"I got this." Morgan said, clueless as to what they were trying to do. "After all it was my ass he pulled out of the fire."

Hotch shook his head. "I'm fine. I just want to go home."

"I just need to get Henry and we can leave." JJ announced, swiveling back towards Garcia's office.

Hotch winced remembering that they had dinner plans. "Can we do dinner tomorrow? I just want to go home and go to bed." Hotch told her. "I'm beat."

She turned back around. "Fine. But you're sleeping at my place. I'm going to get Henry. Then we'll swing by Walgreens for your prescription. I'll call Jess on the way and see if she can drop Jack off. If not I'll pick him up after I get you and Henry home."

"JJ."

"Don't argue with me Aaron." She moved away quickly.

It was the fact that her voice broke that had him following her into Garcia's office. "I'm fine JJ."

"I know." She answered tearfully.

"Look at me." He waited until she raised her eyes up to meet his. "I'm fine. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"I don't want to get rid of you." JJ huffed out slightly aggravated that he would even joke about such a thing.

He closed the distance between them coming to standing directly in front of her. "What do you want, JJ?"

JJ moved closer still, needing to be near him. Needing to reassure herself that he was there and he was okay. She was leaning towards him. "I…" Her eyes drifted shut as his face drew nearer, their breath mingled.

"Daddy!" Caught up in one another neither parent heard the young boy stirring until he was flinging himself at his adored father and the spell was broken.

**Thanks for reading! As always thanks for the reviews and the favorites and/or follows. I truly appreciate them.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Second Time Around Chapter Eight**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – Still beta free so all the mistakes are mine. **

Hotch frowned at the paperwork in front of him and pushed it aside. He wasn't getting anywhere any way. He kept picturing their almost kiss. If only Henry would have slept for a minute longer! His head dropped into his hands. They had been so close, he was sure of it, but then Henry interrupted and JJ shut down. At which point he behaved about as well as his three year old. He cringed remembering the scene he created when he told her that he didn't need a fucking babysitter before storming unceremoniously out of the office. He needed to call and apologize. Sighing he picked up the phone to dial the woman who invaded his every waking thought.

"Hey." JJ answered on the first ring. She'd been anxiously awaiting his call. She'd known she'd upset him the previous evening but she'd been powerless to do anything at that point. Several times during the night she considered going to him but she always managed to talk herself out of it.

His resolve left him the moment he heard her voice. "Good morning. I, uh, just called to check on Henry." He decided he wasn't quite ready to admit that he'd been a jerk by his refusal of her care the previous evening.

"I was getting ready to call you. How are you?" JJ asked.

"I'm fine. A good night's sleep does wonders." He replied gruffly. "Thanks for asking."

"I'm glad." She said softly after a moment's hesitation. Not knowing what else to say or how to breech the void she unintentionally created JJ called out for their son. "Henry, your daddy's on the phone."

Hotch couldn't prevent the smile that formed when he heard the excited squeal on the other end of the phone.

"That should tell you how Henry's doing." JJ laughed. "Okay, sit down and mommy will give you the phone and don't yell in daddy's ear." He heard her giggle when Henry finally got his hands on the phone and proceed to do exactly what she asked him not to.

"Daddy. I see you." Henry promptly demanded. Hotch heard JJ attempt to explain that he wasn't going to be seeing his daddy today and then he heard the explosion that occurred when the little boy realized he wasn't going to get what he wanted.

"Shoot! Hotch? Are you there, can you hear me? Your son threw the phone." He heard JJ mumble in disbelief. Then she laughed out loud. "Wonder where he gets that from?" He knew that was a direct jab at his behavior the previous evening. He heard Henry in the background but couldn't pick up what his son was saying he only heard JJ's side of the conversation. "No. I said no, young man. Crap. Aw, you broke mommy's phone Henry. No. Mommy is not happy with you. No daddy. Daddy is busy today. You get to spend the day with mommy. Mommy wishes your daddy got to see you like this. But no, daddy gets nice Henry. Mommy gets naughty Henry. Why is that?" He heard her ask.

Hotch grinned as he listened to her ramble, glad that the connection hadn't broken. She was a good mom, even with as rotten as Henry was being she didn't lose her cool. She kept an even tone and steady flow of conversation obviously set to distract the young hellion. His young hellion.

"You want to know a secret Henry? I'd like to see your dad today too. I think I hurt his feelings yesterday and I didn't mean to. Do you see me throwing a tantrum, no you don't."

His breath hitched at her admission. He realized that the polite thing would be for him to hang up his phone or let her know that he could hear her. He decided he was probably lacking in manners because there was no way he was hanging or speaking up now.

"You think if mommy carried on and threw a big stink daddy would come and pick me up and cuddle me and tell me everything was going to be alright? That's what your daddy does for you, just scoops you up and cuddles you and takes away all of your problems. You are a lucky little man. Mommy could use some of that."

He smiled as he listened to her talk. He also noticed that just her calm, soothing voice was working. Henry was quiet, obviously as mesmerized by his mother as Hotch was.

"Daddy's a good cuddle bug, isn't he baby?" This time he heard Henry respond with a yes. Hotch could hear him much better though. JJ must have sat down beside him and was doing the exact thing that she said he would do where he there.

"You love your daddy don't you?" Again a yes could be heard and Hotch silently rejoiced in that knowledge.

Then he heard JJ exhale softly. "You know what buddy? So does your stupid mommy."

"Daddy?" Hotch jumped, startled by Jack's sudden appearance. "Where are JJ and Henry?" He had followed the voices thinking they were physically there.

"Hotch?" He heard the panic in JJ's voice and, not sure what to do, he promptly disconnected the phone. He stared at the device for several minutes trying to figure out if what just happened really happened. JJ just confessed that she loved him. Or did she? She did, he reassured himself. He scrubbed a hand over his face. His heart was beating fast. He might just get that second chance after all.

"Are you okay daddy?"

Jack's voice snapped him out of his trance. "Hey buddy." Hotch said to his son. "How would you like to go and visit JJ and your brother?"

The little boy shrugged and looked at the floor.

Jack's reaction puzzled him. "I thought you liked JJ and Henry?" Hotch asked curiously, wondering why Jack was hesitating.

"Do you like them daddy?" His son looked up at him very seriously.

Hotch knelt down beside the young boy and nodded. "I do, pal. I love JJ and Henry. Just like I love you."

He watched as Jack screwed his face up in consideration. "Are you going to marry JJ? Aunt Jess told grandma that maybe you would get your act together and have a family." He frowned. "What does that mean, dad?"

Hotch sighed. "It means Aunt Jess should be more careful about what she says when you're in the room."

"I like JJ, a lot." Jack told him then he begrudgingly added. "I like Henry too. I didn't want to, but I do. I'm glad he's my brother. Aunt Jess told grandma that JJ was pretty and mommy liked her. She said that mommy would approve." He looked up at his dad. "I don't know what that means either."

Hotch chuckled as he sat down on the floor beside Jack. "It means that your mom would be happy that we have JJ and Henry in our lives." He let out a sigh. Haley wouldn't have been happy, initially, had she known about Henry. But she had liked JJ and he thought that Jess was probably right. She would approve.

"We should go and tell JJ." Jack suggested thoughtfully.

Hotch wished it were that easy. "Oh, buddy, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Daddy's not even dating JJ. JJ's not sure what she wants."

"But daddy, JJ loves you. She said so. Didn't you just hear her talking to Henry?"

Hotch blinked, silently cursing speaker phone. "You are really a good listener, Jack." How did you explain matters like this to a young boy when you yourself struggled with it? "Buddy, JJ did say that, but she didn't know that daddy was listening. She probably wouldn't have said it if she knew I could hear her."

He watched as his son frowned. "It isn't nice to listen in on other people's conversations, is it dad?"

Hotch grinned. "So your Aunt Jess _has_ had that conversation with you." Then he sighed again.

"Maybe JJ will be happy that you heard her so now you know." Jack suggested.

"It's kind of complicated, buddy."

"Why?" Jack placed his hand on his father's shoulder. "If you love JJ and JJ loves you why can't we be a family? Aunt Jess said I needed a mom. JJ smells good."

Hotch smiled unable to argue with his logic, she did smell good. "Do you think we could convince her to take a chance on your dad again?"

Jack nodded vigorously.

With his biggest supporter on his side Hotch was warming up to the idea. "I think maybe we should go over and see her. Do you think you could help dad come up with a list of why JJ should give your dad a second chance?"

"You smell good too, dad." His boy told him confidently.

"That's good, I guess." It certainly beat the alternative.

Jack scrunched his face up in deep thought. "You're not too old."

"I think we might need to aim a little higher, bud." The point could also be made that he wasn't as young as he used to be.

"You have all your hair. Mr. Morgan doesn't have any hair!"

Hotch laughed out loud at that one. "Okay, now we're talking, I smell good and have all my hair. I have all my teeth too." He gave Jack a goofy smile and was rewarded with a happy giggle.

"Ooh and you're really strong. You can lift both me and Henry at the same time."

Hotch nodded. "Almost like the Hulk."

Another giggle. "You're funny, dad." Jack's eye's got big. "That's another one! You're funny!"

"How about we get your shoes on and go tell JJ all my finer attributes?" Hotch suggested.

"Okay!" Jack yelled, racing excitedly for his shoes. "Dad! You can drive too. And you can tie shoes."

Hotch laughed as his son dropped on the bottom step and lifted his feet for his father to perform that specific task. "I'm a total catch. She'd be crazy not to snap me up."

Jack smiled as his dad tied his sneakers. "Dad?" A note of uncertainty tinged his voice. "Do you think JJ likes me? Would she want me for a little boy?"

Hotch swallowed hard at the sudden vulnerability on his son's face. "Are you kidding? You're my ace in the hole. The icing on the cake. You're dad's secret weapon."

Jack looked at him confused. "Does that mean yes?"

"You bet it does!" He scooped his son up and placed a smacking kiss on his cheek. "Okay, pal, let's go get our girl!" He pulled open the front door and there she stood with Henry on her hip.

"Daddy!" The little boy lunged as soon as he saw Hotch.

Quick reflexes had him scooping him up and holding him close. "There's my boy." He dropped a kiss on top of his blonde head.

"Did you hear me talking on the phone earlier?" JJ asked him abruptly. It was obvious that she'd raced out the door, her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was still wearing her sleep pants and tee-shirt. Her eyes narrowed when his cheeks heated. "Aaron! Don't even bother lying. You're a horrible liar. You should have never listened to my private conversation. It's, it's, it's _rude_."

"My daddy can tie shoes." Jack interrupted, trying to defuse the situation.

JJ frowned at Hotch but turned to Jack and smiled. "That's awesome buddy." She turned back to Hotch ready to let him have it.

"And he can lift both me and Henry at the same time." He told her proudly.

JJ looked back at the little boy. "I know I can see that."

"He's really strong. And he has all of his own teeth and hair _and_ he smells good."

JJ gave up and looked at Hotch in complete confusion. "Do I want to know?"

"He's providing you a list of my finer qualities." He said sheepishly.

JJ turned back to the little boy. "How about you come here and see me, Jack." She held out her arms and struggled slightly when he jumped into them eagerly. "Oof. You weigh a little bit more than Henry." She told him as she adjusted him on her hip. "Jack, why are you telling me all those things about your dad?"

"So you'll give him a second chance." Jack said simply.

Hotch watched as JJ eyed him suspiciously. "I promise you I won't screw it up this time."

JJ's eyes narrowed. "Are you using your son to sway me?"

The question obviously annoyed him and he was quick to refute the charge. "No. We both know that's not necessary. Whether you're ready to admit that or not is another story."

"Aaron." JJ's voice broke.

"My daddy loves you, JJ and you love him. I heard you say so. We made a list of all the reasons why you should marry us and be a family." Jack looked at her earnestly. "I need a mom, JJ."

"Jack." The boy's name came out on a sob as she hugged him to her.

"I'm daddy's hole in the icing." He told her as he clung to her.

Hotch watched as a teary eyed JJ turned to face him. "I was just going to try to convince you to have dinner with me. Stop holding back. Give me a chance, JJ. Give us a chance." He pleaded.

JJ placed a kiss against Jack's forehead as she shyly glanced over at him. "Dinner would be great."

Hotch's shoulders slumped in relief and he let out a shaky chuckle before telling her brashly. "I'll give you a couple of weeks before we discuss Jack's request."

**Thank you for reading! ****As always, huge thanks for those of you that review, favorite and/or follow. I really appreciate the support and interest.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Second Time Around – Chapter Nine**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – I'm not trying to make JJ come off flaky, just cautious until she has her epiphany. **

Hotch looked across the table as JJ helped Jack cut up the chicken that he ordered for dinner. "You know, when I said dinner, I kind of thought, hoped, it would be just the two of us."

JJ grinned at him as she watched him take away the crayon that the hostess gave Henry for what was probably the tenth time. "I know." She couldn't help the chuckle that escaped as Henry reached for the crayon that Hotch hadn't managed to move out of his way fast enough.

"Why do they give these things out again?" He grumbled, pulling the object from his son's fingers.

"It's to entertain them while they wait for dinner." JJ patiently explained.

Hotch rolled his eyes. "Then why don't they take the stupid things back when they deliver dinner?"

"It's all a plot to annoy you." She giggled, taking a bite of her dinner.

"Yeah well its working." He told her as Henry stood on his chair to reach over for the crayons resting in front of Jack. Fortunately for Hotch he had longer arms.

JJ smiled serenely. "You realize this is what a relationship between the two of us will be. We do have two small boys."

He leveled her with a look. "Thanks for clearing that up, I thought they just stuck these ankle biters at our table to irritate me."

"Are we annoying, dad?" Jack asked, clearly following the conversation.

JJ raised a disapproving brow at him, warning him to be very careful as to how he answered that question.

Hotch sighed, "No buddy, I just wish all the children here were as well behaved as you and Henry." He looked pointedly to the table behind them where two kids roughly the same ages of Jack and Henry were carrying on wildly as their parents drank on contentedly. "Or failing that, it would be nice if their parents paid attention to them." He winced when the youngest child screeched at the top of her lungs.

"I think dad wanted to wine and dine you." Jack told an amused JJ. "At least that's what Uncle Dave said."

Telling himself he really needed to pay attention to where Jack was whenever he was having an adult conversation he looked at JJ and shrugged. "He's not wrong." Hotch confessed.

"I'm well aware of that." She informed Hotch. "That is why we're having a family dinner."

Hotch looked at her puzzled. "So you're using the boys as a buffer against me?"

"No. Maybe." She sat her fork down and looked over at him. "I just, I want this to work. I guess I wanted to ease into this."

Hotch smiled at her honesty. "Okay. I enjoy being around all of you."

She had obviously been expecting something else. "Yeah? Okay?"

After feeling like he was on uneven ground all evening Hotch finally felt he'd found his footing. "Don't sound so surprised. I want this to work too." He took a bite of his untouched dinner. "Maybe after dinner we could take the boys to the park." He suggested. "It's still light for a bit."

"I want to go down the slide." Henry announced, latching on to the proposed outing immediately.

"Then you better sit down and eat your dinner." Hotch told him as the little boy was still intently focused on recapturing the crayons that his father removed from his grasp. The suggestion of the park had been inspired. The little butt hit the seat immediately and his focus was now on rapidly eating his dinner.

JJ smiled at the interaction. "I think a trip to the park would be nice."

~~CM~~

"Daddy!" Henry squealed as he hurled down the slide into his father's waiting arms. "Again!" He wiggled for Hotch to release him so he could run around and fly down once more.

Hotch watched as he painstakingly climbed the ladder to reach the platform to do it all over again. "Don't you want to swing with Jack and mommy?" Hotch gestured over to where the other pair sat gliding back and forth through the air.

"No. I like the slide." Henry stated, positioning himself for the ride down the chute.

Hotch smiled at his little daredevil. "Okay, one more time then I think we need to head home." The sky was darkening as twilight approached.

"I don't want to go home." Henry grumbled, still perched at the top.

"You need to get a bath and get ready for bed."

"I'm not sleepy." The little boy protested.

"Maybe if you're good and take your bath like a nice boy and don't give mommy any trouble she'll let us watch Lion King before bed time." Hotch bargained.

"I wanna watch Woody." Henry stated with a yawn that belied his earlier words.

Hotch scratched his chin at his little negotiator. "Well if you want to watch anything you need to come on down so we can get home and get your bath. You have to be a good boy though and mommy has to agree." The words were barely out of his mouth when Henry shot forward and down the slide.

"Mommy!" He yelled when he reached the bottom. "Mommy! Jack! It's time to go home." He grabbed Hotch's hand and pulled him along with him over to the swing set where both JJ and Jack were slowing to a stop.

"Is it time to go dad?" Jack asked, pushing off the swing.

"Mommy I want to watch Woody." Henry announced, releasing Hotch's hand and racing to his mom.

"Remember," Hotch cautioned, "I said after your bath _if_ mommy said it was okay."

JJ looked at him in surprise. He'd taken her comments the previous day into consideration. Typically he would have just promised Henry that it would be alright.

"Okay mommy?" Big blue eyes pleaded up at her.

"We'll see. Let see how well you do at bath time." Most days he was fine but there were times when he just didn't want to be bothered and he was already looking forward to a movie.

"I don't want to watch Woody." Jack protested. "We just watched Toy Story. I want to watch Cars."

Hotch groaned. He'd seen each movie enough times to narrate them both. "How about we decide what movie to watch when we get home?"

Henry wasn't ready to concede. "But I want to watch…"

"No movie until after your bath and we still need mommy's okay." Hotch interrupted his youngest son.

Henry turned to his dad and gave him the same big eyes. "I'll be good, daddy."

"I know you will, buddy." He said with a smile as he lifted him to his hip to leave the park. Jack took hold of JJ's hand and they turned in unison to walk to the car. Hotch's smile blossomed as he felt JJ slip her small hand into his.

~~CM~~

Hotch watched as JJ bent and talked lowly to Jack. He didn't know what she was asking until he heard his son reply sleepily that he wanted to stay with her. He couldn't blame the boy, he wanted to stay too.

JJ straightened and turned to him. "Can you help me get them to bed?"

"Just sit, I'll put them to bed." He lifted a sleeping Henry in his arms and waited until she moved over and dutifully kissed his forehead good night. "I'll be right back for Jack."

True to his word he was back down after tucking in Henry to pick up Jack and take him to the spare bedroom that he had claimed as his own. JJ even changed out the neutral guest bedding to reflect the tastes of a young boy. Tucking his son into the Avengers sheet he dropped a kiss on his forehead.

"It's okay if I stay here tonight isn't it dad?" Jack asked sleepily.

"Sure pal." He turned to leave and had just stepped back when a little whirlwind flew by him and flung himself up in the full sized bed with his brother. Hotch's throat constricted when he watched the brothers snuggle close and drift off to sleep. He wasn't sure how long he stood there watching them when he felt JJ come and stand beside him.

"I wasn't sure what happened to you." She whispered softly. "They're pretty adorable, aren't they?" She asked as he took his phone from its holder and snapped a picture off.

"How long has this been going on?"

"They had a sleepover about a month ago and now every time Jack is here Henry thinks he should sleep with him." She chuckled softly.

"Do you want me to move him back?" Hotch asked.

She shook her head. "Won't work, he has this little homing device in him that causes him to seek his older brother out."

Hotch watched as Jack's arm flopped over top of Henry. "It doesn't look like it bothers Jack."

JJ shook her head. "I don't think it does." She went to the nightstand beside the bed and flipped on a night light before moving back to the door frame and shutting off the light. "Would you like a glass of wine?"

Hotch moved closer to her, brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "I should probably go."

She frowned, "You don't have to."

His hand came to rest on the top of JJ's shoulder and his thumb caressed her cheek. "I don't want to, but I should."

"You know you could sleep on the couch." JJ suggested.

He gave her a heated look. "How long do you think that would last before I ended up in your bed?"

JJ colored but still said. "And that would be a problem?"

Hotch dropped his hand to her side and intertwined her fingers with his. "It's too fast, you're not ready yet. I just got you to agree to dinner."

"Did you think I wanted the kids there so nothing intimate would happen between us?" She questioned in agitation as that had not been her intent.

His response was to lean down and cover her mouth with his and kiss her like he'd wanted to for longer than he could remember. He leaned back and studied her slightly swollen, wet lips. "I think that you're smart and beautiful and you were right to want to take this slow. I'm in this for the long haul, JJ. I'm in no hurry." The sight of her eyes filling had him leaning down to her once more.

She was breathing heavily when they broke again. "You're sending me seriously mixed messages when you kiss me like that."

He stepped away from her. "I don't want there to be any misunderstanding between us. The last time around I was stupid. I should have told you what was going on with me and I should have told you how I felt about you and I should have never let you walk away so easily."

"I think we can both agree that we were both pretty stupid."

He nodded. "I'm not going to be stupid this time around. I want a future with you. I want a future for all of us." He pointed at the room they just vacated. "I want for us to be a family."

She felt it necessary to point out the obvious. "We already are a family."

He continued as if she hadn't spoken. "I want to tuck my boys in bed then take my wife to bed and make love to her all night long. I want to wake up wrapped around her in the morning when my boys are bugging us to get up and, I don't know," He shrugged, "Go to the park. Go play soccer. Whatever. My future revolves around you and the boys. I'm not going to screw it up."

"So how slow are you thinking we need to go before we reach that scenario?" She asked, advancing on him. "Do you have a timeframe already worked out?"

"Why do I feel like you're mocking me?"

JJ couldn't help the giggle of happiness that escaped her lips. "I'm not mocking you. You're right. I did need time, I was hesitant, but you know what I just realized?" She had him backed up to her bedroom door.

"No, what did you just realize?" He asked.

"We want the same things." She whispered as she lifted to her toes and pressed her mouth to his. "Especially the part about you taking me to bed and making love to me all night long. We need to make sure that we're still sexually compatible." She teased as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Hotch gulped as she molded her body to his. There was no way to hide the evidence of his desire from her now. "I think…"

"You think way too much." JJ interrupted. "Let's not think anymore tonight."

Hotch groaned. "If this is a test you're making it really hard. No pun intended."

JJ shook her head. "I meant what I said yesterday, Aaron. I do love you. If I were being truthful I would tell you that I don't think I ever stopped."

"JJ." Her words humbled him.

She looked up at him with big blue eyes that always managed to make him a little weak kneed. "We can do this." She told him confidently.

He smiled at her. "I know."

"Good because now I do too."

**Thanks for reading! Thank you for those of you that leave reviews. I love to hear from you! And thank you for all of you that have favorite/follow. I really appreciate the interest and support.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Second Time Around Chapter Ten**

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**A/N – Is it just me or when you do a multi chapter is it hard to figure out when/where to stop? I don't know where the future is going to take this version of the couple but I'm pretty sure it will be together and good…**

"How did we get down here?" JJ asked, somewhat out of breath, from the bottom of the bed.

Hotch's head lifted from the mattress, taking in his surroundings. "I have no idea." His breathing had finally settled. "That was…"

"Incredible." JJ finished for him with a chuckle as she moved closer to him, draping herself across his chest. "Guess we answered that question."

Hotch snorted. He didn't believe JJ actually questioned their sexual compatibly. "Oh sweetheart, I had no worries on that front. Our previous relationship might have been too brief, but it burned hot while it lasted." He told her, his hand making lazy circles on her back, unable to stop touching her smooth skin.

He was being a little cocky now, but he'd had a brief moment of vanity when he realized that she would be seeing, for the first time, the damage that Foyet had inflicted upon his chest. She'd wept for the pain he suffered and for the fact that he almost died. Then she set about making love to him, rejoicing in the fact that they were both alive and that they had found their way back to one another. She was now placing open mouthed kisses on the scars.

"Keep that up and you'll be getting another demonstration of how well suited we are." He groaned as her talented tongue laved his chest.

"Promises, promises." JJ giggled then squealed as she was flipped over on to her back.

"I never say things that I don't mean." Hotch told her.

"Good." JJ said, rubbing her body against his sinuously. "Because you said all night long, you've only just started, Slick. I want…" She broke off on a throaty moan as he abruptly entered her, plunging deep and fast, taking her breath away.

"What do you want?" He asked as his hips furiously pumped in and out of her, her hands grasping at his shoulders. "All you have to do is ask, JJ. I'll give you anything and everything you want." The words were uttered hotly in her ear, adding yet another layer of sensation. Then Hotch gently bit her neck and JJ gasped as the first orgasm ripped through her.

Much later she lay bonelessly sprawled on top of him once again. "I could totally get used to this."

"Good. I plan on it being a regular occurrence." Hotch dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Although I have to warn you, I'm going to need a longer recovery period this time around."

JJ giggled at his response. "Take as much time as you need. I'm not going anywhere." They still had some stuff to work out but JJ realized that she was committed to this relationship, this family. It surprised her a little how strongly she felt about it. "We're not moving too fast, are we?" She said, not really meaning it, more thinking out loud.

"No, I'd say this was long overdue." Hotch scoffed. "I mean, I would say that if I weren't worried that you were going to get all skittish and start backtracking." His hand slid over her rear end as his eyes searched hers. "You're not freaking out are you?"

When she remained quietly reflective he began to panic.

Sighing heavily, he repeated. "JJ, please tell me you're not freaking out. I'm not going to be able to handle you walking away from me again." Worried that he should have taken it slower and fearing the worst he mumbled. "I _knew_ I should have gone home."

Shaking her head to clear it JJ place a kiss against his jawline and blurted out what she had been thinking during his moment of panic. "You should move in."

Hotch was too busy losing it to really hear what she said. "I knew that you were going to regret it and start wigging out. You wanted to go slow. I should have respected that."

JJ, on the other hand, heard every word he was saying but since it was so ridiculous she ignored him and continued speaking. "It only makes sense, we spend so much time together anyway and I can only imagine that we're going to spend even more together now. Because I am a big fan of the me and you naked time."

Hotch still wasn't paying attention. "And I should have been stronger and not let you talk me into this but come on? Who the heck in their right mind would turn you down?" He stopped speaking and looked her in the eyes worriedly.

"So that's a yes, right?"

Hotch looked at her in confusion wondering what he missed. "What are you talking about?"

"Well," JJ said, placing a soft kiss against his mouth, "While you were going off on your little tangent about me supposedly freaking out about moving too fast, which we are totally not, I asked you to move in with me. You know Aaron, when it's right, it's right."

"Exactly!" Hotch agreed, honing in on the latter part of her speech. "It is right."

"So move in with me." JJ repeated. "You and Jack belong here with me and Henry."

Hotch's jaw dropped. "I think I'm hearing things. All that blood rushing south must be wreaking havoc on my system." He smacked his palm against the side of his head like he would if he had water in his ears.

JJ reached out and grabbed his hand to stop him, she held it clasped in his tightly. "Stop. You heard me right. We belong together. Henry knows it, Jack knows it."

"I've known it forever." Hotch said a little smugly.

JJ rolled her eyes playfully. "Okay, we can agree that I'm a little slow. Maybe I was afraid…"

"You were definitely afraid." Not that he blamed her, what they were talking about was a big deal. Which was why he had been willing to go as slow as she needed until she realized that they were in it for the long haul. He told her earlier that he had every intention of making her his wife. He'd meant it. He just needed to convince her.

"I'm not anymore. You're it for me. I love you. I want yours to be the last face I see at night and the first I see in the morning." She punctuated her speech with a quick kiss.

Hotch grasped her face to hold her close and kissed her long and deep. "Are you going to marry me?" He wanted to know.

JJ was a little undecided about the whole marriage thing. "I just got out of a marriage." She told him. "How do you feel about a long engagement?"

Hotch shrugged, not so sure he liked that idea, he wanted her for his wife. But he was optimistic that she hadn't said no. "I guess." He said not very convincingly. "I'm not sure how the kids will feel about that."

JJ laughed at his antics. "I'm pretty sure that Jack and Henry will be fine. They'll just be so happy that we're together all the time. And," She said, rubbing against him provocatively, "It will be just like we're married, we'll live together, sleep together…"

He gave her a pout that she wouldn't have believed possible. "How do you think the baby is going to feel about me not marrying its mother?"

"I wish you would stop that. Didn't we have a talk about you calling Henry a baby?" She asked exasperatedly.

"I'm not talking about Henry." He told her with a grin. "I'm talking about the new baby."

JJ's eyes went wide in surprise. "_What new baby?_"

Hotch pressed a hand against her flat stomach. "The one that I'm currently negotiating for. I want to give you another child, JJ. I want to watch you grow with my baby inside you, knowing that it's my child you carry." His voice broke slightly recalling all that he'd missed the first time around. "I want to whisper sweet nothings to him or her while he or she is protected in your womb. I want to feel them kick when I tell a story to your growing belly or press kisses against it. I want to watch the joy on my sons faces when they realize we're having another baby. I want everything with you."

JJ blew out a breath. "Wow. What happened to not freaking me out and going slow?"

Hotch grinned, all of a sudden no longer worried. "You know what I see when I look at you?"

"A lot of skin?" She quipped then when he lifted a brow, she shrugged. "I can't even imagine; I've just realized your imagination knows no limits."

"Funny. Your pupils dilated when I was talking and your pulse sped up. You want the same things I do, you're just afraid to admit it." He challenged.

"I'm not afraid of anything." JJ argued.

"Prove it." He dared her. "Marry me and have my baby."

"You're kind of bossy." JJ told him with a smirk. "Why is marriage so important all of a sudden?" She wanted to know.

"It's not all of a sudden. I want you to be mine. I've always wanted that." He answered simply.

The simplicity of his response made her smile. "Don't be silly. I already am yours." She grasped his hand and placed it over her heart. "That beats for you and you alone."

"I want you all in, JJ. I want to know that you are as committed to making this work as I am. I guess I'm old fashioned, because for me that means marriage."

She knew that. It was why she'd let him go the first time. He believed in a committed relationship and doing whatever was necessary to make it work. She'd only been wrong on assuming that it wasn't her he wanted it with. That was no longer the case. "I am all in." She told him sincerely.

He wasn't finished. "I love you. I want to be a family. I want there to be marks on the wall in the kitchen indicating how much the kids have grown. I want to have family dinners where we share everything that happened during the day. Weekends filled with soccer games, family chores, watching TV and playing games. Holidays spent together with our extended family. I want to send out Christmas cards with a family picture signed, The Hotchners."

With tears in her eyes JJ tilted her head, "Really, we're going to be cheesy?"

"Matching sweaters and everything." He laughed. "Antlers on the dog…"

"There's a dog in his picture?"

He chuckled. "Maybe a cat, too. I'm a greedy bastard. I told you I want everything."

JJ didn't say anything. She closed the distance between them and kissed him softly at first then she let it build as she poured her emotion into the kiss. Her hands tangled in his hair as her mouth licked, nipped, and sucked his.

After several minutes they broke apart breathing heavily. Hotch looked down at JJ. "What do you say?"

"I think we're going to need a bigger house."

His smile was blinding. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." JJ assured him with a smile of her own. "That and your recovery rate is really remarkable." She added with a giggle. "I guess that's a good thing considering we want to expand our family."

Hotch swallowed hard and asked, "We do?"

"Oh, we do." JJ cupped his cheek tenderly. "I find the idea of giving you everything you want a heady notion."

Hotch laughed happily as he drew her closer. "I knew I could bring you around to my way of thinking."

"I'm not so sure about the matching sweaters though." She said with a happy sigh, content in the knowledge that things were going to be much better the second time around.

~THE END~

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